Was Brian Elliott screaming at his teammates after the first Phoenix goal or was he just screaming out loud at no one in particular? He was very upset with something or someone in the immediate aftermath of the goal in which he was most likely screened.
Remember Martin Gerber screaming at Anton Volchenkov last season? Black Aces hopes that Elliott wasn't taking that route last night. He has only himself to be angry at in what has been a brutal road trip for him. Generally, yelling at teammates or coaches doesn't get you very far in Ottawa. We all saw what happened to the very young and cocky Brian Lee who thought it was okay to lip off to Coach Clouston on the bench last week. He was demoted to the AHL the very next day although GM Bryan Murray didn't want to comment on that particular incident.
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Obviously I haven't had much time to blog this past week but let me just echo the sentiments of owner Eugene Melnyk who on Sunday morning reminded Jason Spezza and Alexei Kovalev that the Senators "best players have to be their best players".
No kidding.
Spezza and Kovalev's seasons are starting to get downright ugly and they have to start scoring, even if it means shedding some defensive responsibilities here and there. It may be that Clouston seems to have adopted a less aggressive system this season than the one he employed upon the dispatching of Craig Hartsburg last year. Ottawa all too often seem to be waiting around and concentrating on congesting up that middle zone.
But the maxim that "safety is death" seems to apply here and it would be nice to see that aggressive forecheck back on a consistent level.
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