Sport-scan daily brief

The Leafs did put on a show in the early minutes, taking a 1-0 lead on a goal by Mason Raymond, who converted a backhand pass from Dave Bolland at 4:21 of the first period.

That got fans at the ACC excited until, but only three minutes later there was a collective groan as a Kyle Turris shot from the slot leaked through James Reimer to tie the game at 1-1. Turris was the Senators best player, carrying a goal and two assists into the third period.

Turris started the play for the next goal, drifting a shot toward the Leafs net as all hell broke loose. Cody Franson had the puck, but Cory Conacher bumped the Leafs defenceman and jammed a shot past Reimer for the 2-1 Ottawa lead. The third member of the second line, Clarke MacArthur, had a ton of chances but could not find the goal he so badly wanted against his former club.

Concacher’s goal didn’t hold up, as the Leafs closed out the period with the tying goal on a power play. Nazem Kadri had nothing but net after receiving a pass from Raymond.

Remember all those goal-less minutes in Buffalo? Well, that was then.

Spezza scored his first goal as captain of the Senators to give Ottawa a 4-2 lead in the middle of the second period and knocked Reimer out of the game, in favor of Jonathan Bernier. Things were looking great for the visitors but the Leafs scored late, on a Joffrey Lupul goal with 16 seconds remaining to make the third period worth watching.

Coming into the game, Reimer downplayed his flashy

8-1-1 career record against Ottawa , with a 1.69 goals-against and three shutouts in 10 games.

“Honestly, I don’t really have an answer for it,” Reimer said. “I think it’s just a rivalry and you get up for rivalries. Although you try to get up for every game, it just means a little more playing against an opponent like this. They’re fun games to play.”

Really, Reimer said, he’s just been along for the ride.

“Our team has played well against them, and as a goalie you reap the statistical benefit.”

Reimer recalls the game two years ago when he survived, barely, an 11-goal game with Ottawa.

“We won 6-5 (Oct. 8, 2011),” Reimer said. “It’s not like I stood on my head and really helped the team there.”

“There’s games where they’ve lit me up, too. Anything can happen on any given night, whether you’ve won 10 in a row against a team or lost 10 in a row. You take every game as a separate, single game.”

Sounded like an omen for a night that was not going to be kind to him. We wonder if Bernier just took over the right to be called the Leafs No. 1 – for this week, anyway.

Ottawa Citizen LOADED: 10.06.2013

719793 Ottawa Senators

Clarkson came close to signing with Senators

by Wayne Scanlan

on October 5, 2013

TORONTO — David Clarkson is best known today as the player suspended 10 games to start the season by jumping over the boards during a fight.

But just a few months ago, Clarkson was a free agent considering becoming an Ottawa Senator.

“It was probably the hardest decision I’ve had to make in my career,” Clarkson said, saying he was impressed by Ottawa’s ownership, management and coaching.

“I liked the vibe there, but the more I thought about it, the chance to come home and be near family and friends – that was part of the decision we made.”

Clarkson grew up in Toronto and his father is such a huge Leafs fan, he had a vanity Leafs licence plate on his car long before his son joined the organization.

So, no, Clarkson doesn’t regret signing a monster contract with the Maple Leafs, but he regrets leaping over the boards to help Phil Kessel in a tussle with big John Scott of the Buffalo Sabres.

“I always explain to everyone, it was like a friend or a brother in trouble and you didn’t know what the outcome would be . . . you react and go after it.

“Unless you’ve got my skates on, it’s tough to say what you would do,” Clarkson said. “I’m not here to fight or be a sideshow, I’m here to put the puck in the net and also be a team guy and be a leader. I feel bad that I hurt the Toronto Maple Leafs.

“It sucks – not only the bag skating part of things, it sucks not being able to get out there. Especially sitting up there in the press box with you guys, as nice as it is up there, I’d rather be on the ice.”

Ottawa Citizen LOADED: 10.06.2013

719794 Ottawa Senators

Morning skate update: Corvo, Kassian in for Sens vs. Leafs

by Wayne Scanlan

on October 5, 2013

TORONTO – Hockey coaches are famous for sticking with a winning lineup.

Why fix what ain’t broke?

And yet the Battle of Ontario always has the Senators making adjustments based on the physical style of the Toronto Maple Leafs.

So it is that after beating the Buffalo Sabres 1-0 on Friday, the Senators made a couple of lineup changes, inserting enforcer Matt Kassian for Stephane Da Costa, despite Da Costa’s strong play in Buffalo.

Also, defenceman Eric Gryba, who struggled at times against the Sabres, is replaced by veteran Joe Corvo.

Head coach Paul MacLean said there was nothing Da Costa could have done better.

“That’s what Steph has to continue to do is make it hard for us (to take him out), and make us play him,” MacLean said. “Depending on who we play, our opponent, the lineup is going to change and he could be one of the guys who changes.

“We don’t want him to lose any confidence, but it’s now about he’s playing, it’s who we’re playing.”

As for Gryba, who was injured much of training camp, MacLean said “he didn’t skate the way we needed him to, where we feel it should be, and we want to get Joe in, too.”

Off his brilliant shutout in Buffalo, Craig Anderson returns in net for Ottawa, against James Reimer and his 8-1-1 record against the Senators.

Leafs head coach Randy Carlyle said he would have to be “crazy” not to consider Reimer’s record against the Senators when he chooses his goalies. Jonathan Bernier was brough in from Los Angeles to shore up Toronto’s goaltending, yet Reimer will be getting his second start in three games.

The Leafs are 2-0, having won on the road in Montreal and Philadelphia.

Toronto could have as many as three rookies in the lineup, with Ashton Carter, Morgan Rielly and Spencer Abbott. Abbott replaces winger Kikolai Kulemin, who chipped his ankle by blocking a shot in practice on Friday.

Ottawa Citizen LOADED: 10.06.2013

719795 Ottawa Senators

Senators prediction panel: Game 2

by James Gordon

on October 5, 2013

The Ottawa Senators get right back to work in Toronto against the Maple Leafs. Which team will come out on top? Our prediction panel weighs in.

Ottawa Senators (1-0-0) at Toronto Maple Leafs (2-0-0)

James Gordon (@SensReporter), Citizen Sports/SenatorsExtra Editor

Senators 3, Leafs 2

Normally a divisional match-up on the road to close out a back-to-back would be something to worry about. But we’re talking about Day 2 of the Senators’ season. Also, #fancystats.

Record: 1-0

Exact scored predicted: 0

Wayne Scanlan (@HockeyScanner), Citizen Hockey Columnist and defending panel champion

Senators 2, Leafs 3

Leafs eke out a close one at home. Maybe.

Record: 1-0

Exact scores predicted: 0

Ian Mendes (@ian_mendes), TSN 1200 The Drive host

Senators 2, Leafs 3

Everyone is undefeated heading into this game: The Leafs. The Sens. And everyone in this prediction panel. That will change on Saturday.

Record: 1-0

Exact scores predicted: 0

Graeme Nichols (@6thSens), writer/editor, The 6th Sens blog and podcast

Senators 2, Leafs 5

As much as I’d love to see Clarke MacArthur light up his former teammates, Ottawa can’t play as sloppily as it did last night against a Toronto team that already has two games under its belt.

Record: 1-0

Exact scores predicted: 0

Steve Lloyd (@TSNSteveLloyd), host, In the Box on TSN 1200

Senators 2, Leafs 0

After the Sabres game I’m making this pick thinking two things won’t happen. Lehner won’t start against the Leafs, and Anderson won’t allow another goal…ever. Sure. Sens ride Anderson to a 2-0 win.

Record: 1-0

Exact scores predicted: 0

Peter Raaymakers (@silversevensens), writer/editor, Silver Seven Sens blog

Senators 3, Leafs 1

There’s going to be a letdown in Toronto, and it would be oh-so-perfect if that came against Ottawa. Considering how impressive Ottawa’s second line was in their season debut, I don’t see how Toronto can defend against the Sens’ full attack.

Record: 1-0

Exact scores predicted: 0

Jeremy Milks (@BlackAcesOtt), writer/editor, Black Aces blog

Senators 2, Leafs 4

Ottawa rarely has their best game in Toronto on Hockey Night In Canada, and at this point it seems like a curse. The Leafs are even more improved over the team that beat the Senators four times last season.

Record: 1-0

Exact scores predicted: 0

Eric Doty (@BonksMullet), writer/editor, BonksMullet.com and founder of SensMOTB

Senators 3, Leafs 1

Given that Jonathan Bernier and James Reimer are not American, I feel fairly confident in saying that they are likely to allow at least one goal on Saturday night. The Sens win 3-1 after an hour long pre-game ceremony to honour the storied history of the new Atlantic Division.

Record: 1-0

Exact scores predicted: 0

Ottawa Citizen LOADED: 10.06.2013

719796 Ottawa Senators

Sens blow lead lose in first Battle of Ontario

By Don Brennan ,Ottawa Sun

First posted: Saturday, October 05, 2013 10:24 PM EDT | Updated: Sunday, October 06, 2013 01:25 AM EDT

TORONTO - The Senators took care of their James Reimer issue just fine Saturday night.

They did, however, have far more difficulty with the rest of the Maple Leafs.

After threatening to run away and hide with the two points, the Senators blew a two-goal lead in the second period then went on to lose 5-4 in a shootout to Toronto in front of 19,552 fans at the Air Canada Centre.

Mason Raymond and Tyler Bozak both beat Craig Anderson in the shootout, with Raymond using a spinarama move that had the Senators questioning its legality.

Senators coach Paul MacLean said he was on a conference call with all the other coaches in the league at the start of the year and at that time was informed such a spinarama move in a shootout would be “seriously reviewed” with the possibility that a goal off it would be disallowed.

“We informed our players of that,” he said. “We don’t do that.”

For Maple Leafs coach Randy Carlyle, “it was news to me” that the league was cracking down on such moves.

Milan Michalek hit the crossbar and Jason Spezza was turned aside on the Senators two chances.

The result was a disappointing one for the Senators, although it did give them three of four points on their two-game road trip.

The Sens head out on a four-game swing to California and Arizona Tuesday.

Goals by Jared Cowen and Spezza 15 seconds apart midway through the second period broke a 2-2 tie and chased Reimer, who at that point had been beaten four times on 21 shots.

The Leafs made things interesting with their second powerplay goal, this one by Joffrey Lupul, with 17 seconds left in the second period. They then tied the game early in the third off an odd man rush, with Marc Methot caught at the Ottawa blue line, when Phil Kessel set up James van Riemsdyk on Craig Anderson’s doorstep.

Paul Ranger almost won the game late in the third when he beat Erik Karlsson, who had a subpar game, only to rip a shot off the post.

Cowen hooked Dave Boland to the ice on a breakaway in the last minute of overtime but was just given a minor penalty when a penalty shot call looked very possible.

Reimer entered the night with a dominant 8-1-1 career record (as well as a .949 save percentage and 1.69 goals against average) against the Senators.

Carlyle took the numbers into account when deciding on whether to start Reimer or Jonathan Bernier, who stopped all 15 shots he faced.

Following the game, Spezza said, “Bernier was very good, but when we have a two-goal lead, we have to win the game. It’s plain and simple.”

Reimer had no answers for his success against Ottawa when asked about it after the morning skate.

“It’s just one of those things where it’s a rivalry and you get up for rivalries,” he said. “You try to get up for every game, but I guess it just means a little more playing against an opponent like this. They’re just fun games to play.”

While Spezza scored and Bobby Ryan registered his first point as a Senator, the visitors were carried by the second line in the first two periods.

Kyle Turris was the spearhead of the attack with a goal and two assists. Cory Conacher had the other goal.

Mason Raymond had a goal and two assists for the Leafs. Nazem Kadri had the other.

Entering their home opener on the wave of a 2-0 record, the Leafs had heat on them to win this one, according to Carlyle.

“The pressure is on us,” he said at his morning press conference. “The reality is, the pressure is on the whole team to put a show on.”

THREE STARS

M. Raymond: A goal each in regulation & shootout

K. Turris: Three-point night for Sens

J. Bernier: Keeps Leafs in it after replacing Reimer

TURNING POINT:

Jared Cowen and Jason Spezza goals 15 seconds apart broke a 2-2 tie and chased James Reimer from the Leafs net.

THUMBS UP:

Cowen was beaten behind the net on the play that led to the first Leafs goal, but a little over three minutes penetrated the Leafs zone and set up Kyle Turris for the equalizer.

THUMBS DOWN:

Ottawa’s penalty killing specialists, who were so good last season, failed to survive two shorthanded situations.

Ottawa Sun LOADED: 10.06.2013

719797 Ottawa Senators

You hate Sens fans too? Here's why

By Mike Strobel ,Toronto Sun

First posted: Saturday, October 05, 2013 07:29 PM EDT | Updated: Saturday, October 05, 2013 10:03 PM EDT

TORONTO - I try to hate Senators fans, I really do.

But why? It makes no sense. Hating Ottawa Senators’ supporters is like hating plankton or tree moss or nitrogen dioxide.

Sure, it is possible to dislike them, but what’s the point? There is none of the joy, the delicious tingle, that a deep distaste for Habs fans brings you.

Senators fans seem too vague and quiet to hate. Look at them closely. They are actually slightly out of focus. As if they’re stuck in Casablanca in 1942.

Senators fan: You despise me, don’t you?

Humphrey Bogart: If I gave you any thought I probably would.

Likely, your feeling toward Sens fans has been akin to a dull headache or a stone in your shoe. Annoying, not infuriating.

Battle of Ontario? Marketing hooey.

But a chart in Thursday’s Sun finally pointed the way to a good, healthy revulsion.

It showed the median income of families in 33 Canadian metropolitan areas.

Ottawa-Gatineau topped the list at $93,440. Toronto trailed badly, at a meager $69,740, and every burg from Victoria to St. John’s floundered in the national capital’s wake.

Surprise, surprise. The city where the taxman lives, the city that demands an obscene cut of our sweat-stained wages, is home to the wealthiest citizens in the land. Worse, they become so by suckling at the teats of the nation, including your teat, your family’s teat, your friends’ teat, and your dog’s teat.

And they are Sens fans.

So that explains our subconscious loathing of them. But there’s more, if you bother to think about it.

For one thing, Ottawans, are getting uppity lately.

When I lived there for a spell in the 1970s, the locals were embarrassed about their city, and rightly so.

“The best thing about Ottawa,” outsiders used to say, “is it’s only two hours to Pembroke.”

Now, Ottawans gloat when a

University

of Toronto think-tank says their city is tops in the world’s “creative” economy. Seattle and Oslo are second and third and Toronto is 25th.

“Look at us!” they gush. “We beat Oslo!”

Big deal. “Creative economy?” It just means Ottawa is infested with nerds, bohemians and women in sensible shoes, many of whom can be found snoozing in the stands of Canadian Tire Centre at Senators games, presumably waiting to collect their play money and go home to their basements.

Mind you, the Air Canada Centre is not exactly Thrillsville on hockey night, either. But at least it’s blue and white.

That’s the thing. The thrill at Canadian Tire Centre is created by fans of the opposing team.

When the Leafs visit Ottawa, Sundin, Gilmour and Kessel jerseys outnumber the Alfredssons and Spezzas. With Les Canadiens in town, Lafleur or Price sweaters dominate.

It got so bad last season, the Senators offered discounts on tickets if purchasers promised not to re-sell them to rival fans.

“Any seats being re-sold will be subject to cancellation and loss of privileges,” the front office warned. (Tough talk in a town that hasn’t won a Stanley Cup since Mississauga Mayor Hazel McCallion was six. She was 46 when Toronto last had one.)

Ushers at the Ottawa rink have been known to order Leafs fans to sit down and shut up. Habs and Bruins fans often commandeer the parking lot.

At home, the Senators strive desperately to score first, so as to take the crowd out of the game.

See what I mean? Sens’ fans aren’t the “seventh man,” they’re the Invisible Man.

You only notice them if they sit right behind the bench and are dead-ringers for coach Paul MacLean, which was the high point of Senators fandom last year.

But who can blame them? If you suckled freely at the public bosom and had a job for life, you’d keep a low profile, too.

Ottawa Sun LOADED: 10.06.2013

719798 Ottawa Senators

MacArthur reveals he's got a bone to pick with former coach Randy Carlyle

By Don Brennan ,Ottawa Sun

First posted: Saturday, October 05, 2013 08:47 PM EDT | Updated: Saturday, October 05, 2013 08:53 PM EDT

TORONTO - Clarke MacArthur could remain diplomatic for only so long.

On Saturday morning, hours before the Senators took the ACC ice, the veteran winger revealed his true feelings about Leafs coach Randy Carlyle.

"If you pass him in the hallway, will you say hi?," MacArthur -- who moved from Toronto to Ottawa as a free agent in the summer -- was asked after the morning skates.

"No," he said. "I'm going to go with no on that one."

MacArthur was naturally angry and embarrassed when Carlyle made him a scratch in the playoffs last spring. But there's more to his bitterness than that.

"It's well known Bobby Ryan didn't have a great relationship with Carlyle (when the two were in Anaheim)," MacArthur was reminded. "How about you?"

"I didn't have a relationship (with him)," said MacArthur. "Not many guys do.

"It's one of those things where he runs the show there, and everyone knows that. That's the way it is. It's worked for him in the past. He's got a Cup from that. But at the same time there's other ways to do things too.

"Some guys are good with the criticism and some guys, they don't want to hear it every single shift you come off the ice. I'm old enough to know I made a mistake. You don't need to hear it every five seconds.

"It weighs differently on different people. For me, it was just some long days."

MacArthur is not the first ex-Leaf to speak out about Carlyle. When the Leafs bought Mikahail Grabovski out over the summer, he had some harsh words about him too.

"(Grabovski) was obviously frustrated and he certainly didn't have a tight lip about it," said MacArthur. "That was something to see that. But he was frustrated. He was a guy who had 30 goals, two years of 55 or whatever points, and then Randy came in and it just didn't work out. They turned him into a checker, and look at him now. Four points his first game (with the Capitals). Three goals. I mean, who's right there? I don't know."

Yes you do, MacArthur was told.

"I know who's right," he said.

MacArthur said there was never talk about him re-signing with the Leafs.

"It was a tough way to end it," he said. "Just getting scratched in the playoffs, that was it for me. I came back and scored some goals, they were good for the team. But I was done here after that. That was it. The game of hockey, I wasn't excited coming in anymore. It was time to move on."

It's something of a new twist to the Battle of Ontario, where before it was just the players who didn't like each other. Now, players don't like coaches. But the way the departed are talking, you have to wonder how many of the current Leafs are fond of Carlyle.

And if guys don't like the man behind the bench, well, sometimes they just stop playing for him.

BETWEEN PERIODS

Sounds like suspended Leaf David Clarkson was closer to signing with the Senators in the offseason than we may have fully realized. "There were four or five teams, but Ottawa just impressed me so much with their ownership, their management, Mr. (Bryan) Murray, and the coach," Clarkson, who wound up inking a deal with in his hometown, said Saturday morning. "I got to meet with everybody, and when me and my wife walked out of their and came home "¦ I don't know if you noticed, but I didn't announce where I was going until 3 p.m. "¦ I didn't announce at 12 because I didn't really know. In my heart, Ottawa was somewhere I just liked the vibe there. I liked the coach, I liked a lot about it, but at the end of the day, the more I thought about it, getting the chance to come home near family and friends, that was part of the decision we made."

STARTS AND STOPS

Jared Cowen was on ice for all four first period goals -- two for and two against "¦ Binghamton captain Mark Borowiecki and winger Mark Stone were injured in the first period of the B-Sens first game Saturday "¦ The Senators weren't worried about a delayed start to Saturday's game because of drawn out opening ceremonies. "I don't think it makes a difference," he said early in the day. "I'm just going to have another coffee." How many do you usually have before a game? "Usually just one," he said, "Maybe two today though." "¦ The loudest and most irritating autograph "seeker" ever screamed at "Erik" for an autograph outside the team hotel, but Karlsson ignored him. "I thought it was Gryba he was yelling at," smiled Erik Karlsson.

Ottawa Sun LOADED: 10.06.2013

719799 Ottawa Senators

Da Costa healthy scratch in TO-Sens battle

By Don Brennan ,Ottawa Sun

First posted: Saturday, October 05, 2013 07:25 PM EDT | Updated: Saturday, October 05, 2013 07:38 PM EDT

TORONTO - Stephane Da Costa was singled out by his coach as one of the team's better forwards in the season opener. But he still wound up in the pressbox for Game 2.

Against the Sabres, Da Costa played a little more than 12 minutes, had three shots on goal and was 67% in the circles -- the best success rate of the all the Senators centres.

He was a healthy scratch for Saturday's game in Toronto only because Paul MacLean wanted to muscle up against the burly Leafs.

Still, the decision to take Da Costa out was not an easy one.

"That's what Steph has to do, continue to make it hard for us, and make us play him," MacLean said Saturday morning. "At this point, depending on who we play and our opponent, the line-up is going to change, and he could be one of the guys who changes.

"We don't want him to lose any confidence. It's not the way he played. It's who we're playing (Saturday). That's all it's about: the opponent."

MacLean said Da Costa was "competitive, good in the circle, good defensively.