Sunday, May 20, 2007

Saturday May 19

Play resumed on Saturday afternoon as the Ottawa Senators looked to wrap up their series against the President's Trophy winning Buffalo Sabres in 5 games and secure a Stanley Cup Final berth for the first time in franchise history. They did just that with a 3-2 OT win Buffalo. Despite blowing a late 2-1 lead late in the third, Daniel Alfredsson vaulted his Sens into the final round with a wrister that bounced off a defenseman's stick and just in the post at the 9:32 mark of the overtime frame. A lot of lucky bounces and lucky timing have made the Senators the hottest team of this playoff cycle as they have compiled a 12-3 record defeating each of the first three teams they have faced in 5 games. For FIW it was a sad day as the corps of FI loses one of the last hopes in the form of Sabre Tim Connolly. Here is a look at the numbers from Connolly's perspective:
  • In 19:57 of ice time Connolly managed 2 shots on goal, nothing more, nothing less. Despite that, Connolly had a good playoff run scoring 9 points (all assists) in 16 contests. Connolly was vital in helping to score a couple of huge goals in these 3 rounds, including an assist on the game winner in Buffalo's only victory of the series.
  • With the teams remaining there are only 2 FIs left with a chance for Stanley Cup glory. Those players are Todd Bertuzzi and Chris Osgood of the Detroit Redwings. As mentioned in prior posts, Bertuzzi has 7 points in 14 games this postseason and Chris Osgood has yet to clock a minute of ice time as Dominik Hasek is expectedly dominating the net.

Check back soon as the Redwings and Ducks face off on Sunday afternoon. As always, thanks for checking in with FIW for all your playoff/Former Islander updates.

No comments: