After watching the Ottawa Senators lose to the Toronto Maple Leafs tonight at Scotiabank place, I am desperately wondering, what has happened to this Sens squad?!?!
They had no desperation and they seemed content to just float through the game giving up five goals and not being able to score a single goal on Vesa Toskala.
It's hard to point fingers at the Sens tonight, guys like Daniel Alfredsson, Mike Fisher and even Antoine Vermette posted some strong numbers as far as shots on goal, hits and minutes played. From where I was sitting behind the bench, trust me, my finger (and not the nice finger) was pointed at John Paddock and Ray Emery.
Paddock was staring at his team and as far as I'm concerned, there was no coaching being done. No contructive criticism behind the bench and communication between the coaching staff and the team was at an all time low. Paddock made no line changes after the Sens allowed three goals in the second, and there were no goalie changes until Razor allowed five goals. Granted his team wasn't much help infront of the net, but had Martin Gerber been in net to start, he would have been pulled after three. It seems Paddock, like most Sens fans, is fed up with the lack of effort displayed by his team. I think Paddocks days as a Sen are numbered and if Brian Murray knew what was good for the team, he would get rid of some guys (like a goaltender maybe?) and move behind the bench himself.
The big trade deadline on Hockeybuzz.com kicks off tomorrow morning and my only wish is for this team is to wake up and realize that they are slowly joining the Leafs in 14th place. If they don't clean up their act and play like the team they were at the beginning of the season, the Sens are looking at a long run to the playoffs, assuming they are still in the running come April.
Sorry for the negative blog but I had a hard time sitting among hundreds of Leafs fans watching the Sens lose so brutally...I'm going to sleep this one off
Katie V.