Recap: Ottawa vs. Philadelphia

I was able to make the trip to Ottawa last night to see the Senators play the Flyers. Both teams have been play poorly of late. The pace of the game lagged a bit in the second period but picked up again through the third period and into a very exciting overtime. Two SHGs made for some excitement. The final score was Ottawa 3 Philadelphia 2 (SO). In general, Ottawa did not do a good job of going to the net. Some thoughts on individual performances:

Ottawa

D Wade Redden – Steady but unspectacular play from the veteran blue-liner. He failed to hold the line a couple of times early in the game, but showed great patience and hockey sense to help set up Ottawa’s second goal.
LW Dany Heatley – Not a good game. Had some chances in OT but was mostly noticed for glaring giveaways.
RW Daniel Alfredsdson – The captain was not an offensive threat this game but was great killing penalties.
C Antoine Vermette – Had a nose for the net all night. Was a couple of bounces away from a multi-goal game.
G Ray Emery – Gave up some big rebounds that fortunately bounced away from danger. But to his credit the only Flyer goals came of off deflection.
D Andrej Meszaros – His mistakes are still what I notice most about his play.
LW Cory Stillman – Great game! He was the most dangerous Senator with the puck tonight. Brilliant set up to Volchenkov in OT. Also great backchecking.

Philadelphia

D Braydon Coburn – I thought Coburn was a force tonight. He made two defensive plays that were particularly memorable.
C Daniel Briere – Missing in action. Apparently he played 20+ minutes and recorded 4 shots, but the only thing I remember about his play was his miss in the shoot-out.
D Kimmo Timonen – Good game at both ends of the rink. Great hockey sense to join the rush on the penalty kill and was rewarded with a shortie. Was a physical match against the much bigger Heatley.
C Mike Richards – Seemed to be everywhere tonight but didn’t have much of an impact.
C Jeff Carter – See Richards. Did create a great scoring chance after stripping the puck off a Senator in the neutral zone.

Three Stars

1. Cory Stillman
2. Antoine Vermette
3. Braydon Coburn