Music: {allcanada} Defence on the docket Play in own end a work priority for Senators

Monday, October 4, 2010

{allcanada} Defence on the docket Play in own end a work priority for Senators

The timing is perfect for the Ottawa Senators as they head to CFB Petawawa today.

They need some basic training.

After the shoddy defensive effort in Saturday's 8-5 victory over the New York Rangers to conclude their National Hockey League preseason schedule—"It wasn't pretty, that's for sure," coach Cory Clouston said—the Senators have plenty of work to do in preparation for Friday's regular-season opener against the Buffalo Sabres.

Foremost among the issues is goaltending.

It was worrisome for the Senators that Pascal Leclaire (notes) and Brian Elliott (notes) took turns allowing at least one bad goal per game early in training camp. Now it has gone from bad to worse, with Leclaire looking lost in the net on Saturday, allowing five goals on 30 shots.

While Clouston said the coaches had an idea who would begin the season in the Senators' net, he wasn't ready to disclose that following Saturday's game.

Based on training camp alone, neither Leclaire nor Elliott deserves the No. 1 job, but one of them has to take the net Friday at the opposite end of the ice from the Sabres' Ryan Miller (notes), perhaps the NHL's best goaltender.

Now's the time for Senators goaltending coach Rick Wamsley to go to work. No pressure.

Senators coaches must also determine defence pairings and who the Top 6 will be. Rest assured, they would feel a lot more comfortable if the team hadn't allowed nine regulation-time goals in the past two games. General manager Bryan Murray even joked that Saturday's game made him wonder about the decision to sent rookie Jared Cowen (notes) back to major junior.

"I don't know if it was focus or a couple of bad goals each way, but it was almost pond hockey," Clouston said.

With four full days of practice before the season opener, the Senators are also banking on lasting chemistry among their forwards. The positive on Saturday was that the third and fourth lines produced all eight goals, led by hat tricks from Zack Smith (notes) and Chris Kelly (notes), and Clouston singled out Smith for praise.

"I thought (Saturday) was kind of the icing on the cake for him," Clouston said. "He hadn't produced offensively in camp, but he played hard, he battled, he played smart. That line in general was our best line, with Peter (Regin) and Jesse (Winchester). They created something almost every time they were out there."

Murray, however, wants to see more from his top lines. Jason Spezza (notes), who sported an ugly plus/minus of minus-3 Saturday, will centre Milan Michalek (notes) and Daniel Alfredsson (notes) on the first unit. Mike Fisher (notes) will be at centre for Alex Kovalev (notes) and Nick Foligno (notes) on a second line.

"I think our top two lines are going to be good lines," Murray said. "It just seems like through training camp, Fisher has been a little sore, and Alfredsson hasn't played a lot.

"Until I see them in real games and somewhat more healthy, it's going to be real hard to think we're going to score a lot of goals until we get some co-ordination going."

Connected to that, of course, is the power play, with expectations high following the offseason signing of defenceman Sergei Gonchar (notes). Preseason lineup shuffling, however, left the Senators with few opportunities to showcase what they could do with the man advantage.

"I don't like the way we're moving the puck on the power play, in particular, but that's a matter of practice and people shooting the puck off (Gonchar) passes," Murray said. "He'll address that need."

They said it

After scoring his hat trick Saturday, Kelly was asked if anybody had ever told him to shoot more often.

"Ah … no," the veteran centre replied.

Smith, when asked about the previous time he scored three goals in a game, said: "I don't even know if I had (a hat trick) in junior."