PREGAME
NBC busts out some Move Along by the All-American Rejects for the pregame show:
Football commercials in July?
How much did Jerome Bettis have to force himself to say you can't have anyone better than John Madden calling the game.
When did Bill Clement become the spokesperson for Ottawa Tourism?
Is Chris Pronger really that tall or is Pierre McGuire really that short?
Have to love Pronger sporting the little Scott Hall coif.
We get a shot of Jean-Sebastien Giguere putting on his couch cushion pads.
NBC gives us some love for the Church Pews in a U.S. Open
Ed Olczyk tells us Chris Kunitz will be in the lineup tonight. A huge addition for Anaheim.
It's 8:13 p.m. and we're still waiting for an 8 p.m. game to start. We're already in our third commercial break.
Lyndon Slewidge singing the national anthems is some good stuff. Say what you will about his train conductor/doorman outfit, the man takes pride in his task and it clearly shows.
Nice enthusiastic applause for our anthem by the Senators fans.
That huge Canadian flag they unfurled in the stands was very cool. It's a shame we don't have enthusiasm for our anthem like the Canadian fans do.
(Editors note: Someone killed the video on YouTube. Trust us, it was quality.)
Travis Moen and Chris Neil seem to be a little antsy making contact with each other before the puck is dropped. Officials are forced to separate them.
FIRST PERIOD
19:38: When did Teemu Selanne become a faceoff specialist?
19:07: Scott Niedermayer appears to get away with a hold on Daniel Alfredsson.
17:58: The game's first scoring chance comes when Corey Perry feeds Dustin Penner in the slot. Penner snaps a wrister that Emery makes a fantastic glove save on. Emery came to play.
16:09: Kunitz presence already pays dividends as he generates a scoring chance, is taken down by Wade Redden and draws a penalty. Ducks power play.
14:21: Selanne swoops behind the net and feeds Andy McDonald in the slot and he fires the puck past Emery. Ducks 1-0.
13:57: Heads up call by the officials for calling Brad May for roughing after he ran Christoph Schubert into Giguere.
11:14: Neil gets away with a punch or elbow to the face of Pronger.
11:11: Chris Kelly gets a nice feed in the slot but is unable to beat Giguere.
9:58: Ha Ha! NBC points out Bryan Murray's playoff record is 51-54.
8:31: McGuire describes a hit on Scott Niedermayer that results in him going face-first into the boards as "clean."
6:59: Replays show Emery getting away with a few slashes on Ducks that dared to enter his crease.
3:50: A dominant shift by Ottawa results in a goal. Kelly feeds a sharp pass to Neil and he tips the puck on net. Giguere is able to get a piece of it, but it trickles over the goal line. They play Song 2 by Blur (i.e. the "Woo Hoo Song") at ScotiaBank Place. It's a pretty unoriginal choice in our book. Ducks 1, Senators 1.
3:20: Selanne tries to dump a puck into the Senators zone and is held up at the blue line by two Senators. Why is that not interference?
2:35: Why do they keep showing shots of Ottawa? The game is being played in Kanata, Ontario.
1:02: In the "Name That Squirt" segment, the piece of filler where they show a NHL player playing hockey as a youth, they abandon the usual formula of showing a player in the game they're broadcasting and show Mario Lemieux.
0:03: Olczyk really goes out on a limb and says Sidney Crosby will be a great captain.
0:00: End of a good period. Ducks 1, Senators 1.
FIRST INTERMISSION
You tend to forget how young Crosby looks until you see him sitting in between to gnarled old battle axes like Bill Clement and Ray Ferraro.
As Clement and Ferraro are cracking awkward jokes about Don Cherry's wardrobe, Crosby looks totally uncomfortable. Almost like one of them passed gas.
SECOND PERIOD
18:32: Travis Moen misses on a prime opportunity with an open net as he rings a shot off the post.
17:56: A whistle is blown and we see Jason Spezza going off on his nemesis Sami Pahlsson, who has effectively shut down the Senators star this series. Along the Senators bench, Spezza rips Pahlsson's helmet off and tries to rip his head off. As the officials separate the two, Pahlsson manages to rip Spezza's jersey. Both get penalties. Mike Comrie has to serve the penalty for Spezza due to the ripped jersey.
16:21: Wow is this bizarre. Spezza takes Comrie's place in the penalty box and is wearing the jersey of Patrick Eaves who is scratched. They don't have a replacement jersey readily available? As Olczyk says he hasn't ever seen this before, McGuire points out he's seen it in the ECHL. That was basically a way of saying it was a bush league move.
14:51: Spezza gets a replacement jersey finally.
14:40: A turnover by Chris Phillis leads to a Ducks goal. Perry takes the puck out of the corner, fools Emery into thinking he will pass to Ryan Getzlaf and slides it into the cage. Bad goal by Emery. Ducks 2-1.
14:13: Right after McGuire sings the praises of Giguere, he is beaten by Anton Volchenkov from the point. Off a face-off win, Volchenkov blasts a slapper from the point that beats the Ducks goaltender. Replays show the Ducks forgot to put five men on the ice. As Volchenkov's shot beats Giguere, a Duck can be seen scrambling off the bench. A really sloppy mistake by Anaheim. Lots of bizarre stuff is happening in this game. Fisher eventually gets credit for the goal. Ducks 2, Senators 2.
12:22: We're getting some fun hockey tonight. A shot by Penner from the right side bounces out to the slot right to Getzlaf who bangs it home for an easy goal. Emery can't allow brutal rebounds like that. Ducks 3-2.
10:21: Alfredsson gets a clean shot from the high slot and Giguere coolly deflects the wrister with his blocker out of play.
9:53: Uh, why does that cartoon dog in the Red Bull commercial have male genitals?
7:43: Neil absolutely runs over Andy McDonald with a hard check. Some folks think Neil got away with elbowing.
7:16: Neil is smashing anything in a white jersey. He plasters Sean O'Donnell who at 6-foot 3, 228 pounds, is hardly a small man. Neil then lets him know about it. Say what you will about Neil, but he comes to play.
6:16: Scott Niedermayer gets called for a questionable hooking call.
5:25: Alfredsson dumps a puck into the offensive zone and is held up by a Duck near the blue line. Again, why is that not interference?
4:21: O'Donnell dumps Schaefer in front of the Ducks' net and goes off for two minutes.
3:46: A puck is fired by Wade Redden from the point. It hits Scott Niedermayer's stick and ricochets off the skate of Alfredsson into the net. Officials immediately wave the goal off. Replays overturn the ruling and the Ottawa faithful explode. What a game we're watching. Ducks 3, Senators 3.
1:26: The Penguins should have clearly picked up Oleg Saprykin instead of Gary Roberts. Clearly time to fire Ray Shero. Saprykin beats a Ducks defender into the corner and is able to feed it to Dean McAmmond who bounces a puck off of Pronger. Senators 4-3.
0:00: End of an awesome period. Why can't all games be like this? Senators 4-3.
SECOND INTERMISSION
Ah the irony. Bill Clement asking Brett Hull about the legality of a controversial goal in the Stanley Cup final.
The Senators have topped 20 shots on goal for the first time this series with 22.
THIRD PERIOD
19:25: Peter Schaefer gets behind Scott Niedermayer and creates a breakaway. Giguere is able to deny him however.
17:57: McAmmond comes into the zone with speed, fires a shot and gets slugged in the face by Pronger with an elbow and slams his head off the ice. McAmmond falls right to ice. Somehow, nothing is called. It's an absolutely ridiculous non-call. Bryan Murray complains to an official, and for the first time ever, we agree with him. Some teammates help McAmmond to his feet and off the ice. He looks totally disoriented. As the teams return to the ice for a face off, Neil essentially threatens several of the Ducks.
17:05: Getzlaf checks Neil from behind in front of the Ducks bench. A scrum ensues and Fisher and Getzlaf Greco-Roman each other to the ice. Penner and Schaefer do the same. A ton of penalties are doled out. The Senators end up with a power play. What has been a fierce but clean, entertaining game is starting to get ugly because of the officials' non-action regarding the Pronger elbow. Remember the "New" NHL?
16:46: Pronger plays the puck and is serenaded by boos much like he is in Edmonton.
15:50: Moen races down the slot with the puck and gets off a shot. Emery makes the initial save. The puck pops up in the air towards the open net. Emery is able to recover and swat it away in fantastic fashion.
11:38: Antoine Vermette feeds a puck from behind the net to a driving Volchenkov who snaps the puck past Giguere. Senators 5-3.
9:38: Senators fans offer a deafening, "GO SENS GO!!! GO SENS GO!!!" chant.
6:41: Mike Emrick tells us they will try to inform us of anything the Senators will release on the condition of McAmmond. Somehow, we've got a feeling all the Senators will say is McAmmond has an "upper body injury."
4:43: McDonald's stick is held by a Senator and nothing is called.
4:31: McDonald then collides with Emery who sells the contact well and McDonald gets two minutes for goaltender interference.
1:32: The Ducks pull Giguere in favor of an extra attacker.
0:00: End of pretty good game. We got a little bit of just about everything tonight. Senators 5, Ducks 3.
POSTGAME
We have a series now.
Why can't more NHL games be like this? With a few notable exceptions, the hitting was clean and fierce, there was speed and scoring. Controversy and costly mistakes. Heroes and villains. It was exciting.
Pronger got suspended for Game 4. Given Pronger's recent history, we think at least two games would be warranted. Apparently the one game suspension he received for his hit on Detroit's Tomas Holmstrom in the Western Conference final didn't get the message across to him that head hunting won't be tolerated.
In an IIHF tournament, a play like the Pronger elbow would result in an automatic ejection and one game suspension. Why can't the NHL adopt a similar policy?
Much has been made of Alfredsson's goal and if it should have been legal. Take a look for yourselves:
Is that a "distinct kicking motion?" We're not going to open that can of worms, but we will say the rule need to be clarified by the NHL this summer. How it is interpreted is very inconsistent to say the least.
Russell Williams, the 99-year-old Senators fan that saw the last Stanley Cup final game played in Ottawa in 1927 in person, caught the next one.
After reading that story, and this one, we're starting to realize that Senators owner Eugene Melnyk is an all right guy.
Kunitz left the game at some point with the always vague "lower-body injury." He is day-to-day for tonight's game.
Don't fall asleep on a plane with Teemu Selanne.
The Ducks are going to lose money this season?
The NBC affiliate in Tampa, a city where they hosted the final two seasons ago, decided to air a telethon instead of Game 3.
Highlights:
EMPTY NETTER ASSISTS
Sidney Crosby wins his first Art Ross Trophy. His landlord's not impressed.
James Mirtle makes a nice argument to bring back the red line.
Speaking of being irrelevant, we'll finally be getting our long-awaited helping of Don Cherry tonight.
According to E.J Hradek of ESPN, the NHL is planning to play another outdoor game like they did in 2003 in Edmonton.
The Penguins do a little housekeeping .
Bob Smizik calls for a statue of Mario Lemieux to go along with the new arena. We have our own preference.
Get a load of Vincent Lecavalier checking out Christine Simpson.
According to the New York Post's Larry Brooks, the NHLPA wants to push the salary cap to $52. The player associations of the Major League Baseball and the NBA are even rumored to be pushing for it.
ESPN's Terry Frei says the traditional handshake at the end of a series should be optional for players. Kudos to Jodie LeMaster of Tyrone, Pa. for spotting this.
The Fan 590, a Toronto sports radio station, reported the NHL is going to announce expansion into two western cities. Forward to the 16:45 mark.
Someone really wants to bring the NHL back to Winnipeg.
Take Taylor Pyatt off your Penguins free agent pool.
It looks like Keith Tkachuk will be available however.
Hamilton and Hershey are tied 1-1 in the Calder Cup final.
Pensblog gave us some love yesterday. We'll do the same.
PEOPLE READ US
Have you ever wondered how to say "The Penguin" in Arabic?
"I'm currently studying abroad in Cairo, Egypt, and at one point this semester I was eating at a crowded restaurant and shared a table with a guy in traditional Middle Eastern garb. He responded in good but sort of broken English to my "salaam 'aleykum", and it turned out he was from Somalia but was studying in Cairo at an Islamic university. He asked if I was from America (as though it wasn't blatantly obvious), and then which city I was from. When I told him I was from Pittsburgh, I asked if he knew of it, since most people I met here haven't heard of it. His response: 'Yes, they play hockey there, yes? The team is, I don't know the English, al bawtreeq (the penguin)?'"
-- Jay Roddy, Cairo (By way of Robinson).
EN-While we're still trying to comprehend how cool "Al bawtreeq" sounds and the fact that they know the name of Pittsburgh's ice hockey team in Somalia, we would like to point EN has now hit it's fourth continent in terms of feedback. South America, Asia and Antarctica still haven't joined the party. We're thinking Antarctica will be a tough one.
First Published: June 4, 2007, 8:00 p.m.
