The 11-game unbeaten streak is over, Yashin reneges on one
million dollar gift to the Ottawa arts community, and Ron Tugnutt
makes the All-Star team. What a way to go into the mid-season
break.
Ottawa fans have waited a long time but all of a sudden they have
a contending team. The team ended an 11-game unbeaten streak
that helped them rise considerably in the chase for bragging
rights (first place) in the NHL's Eastern conference. The streak
smashed many team and individual records.
The streak has helped to put the Sens 11 games over the .500
mark. They are currently in a race for the top spot in the
Eastern conference. Overall the team continues to play very
well. This is now a team that can consistently take the play to
its opponents, forcing them to play a Senator game. A full court
offensive press combined with a rushing defensive system has
moved the Senators into 4th in the NHL in goals scored. The
system has also helped reduce their goals against to one of the
lowest totals in the league (6th lowest). Ron Tugnutt leads all
NHL goalies with a 1.63 GAA.
The play of Alexei Yashin is a big reason for the team's success.
Yashin has truly become one of the league's stars. Yash leads
the team with 53 points at the All-Star break. Yashin is
currently in the last year of a three-year deal and can expect to
see his salary increase to somewhere in the 10 million dollar a
year range. Up until last week, the big question surrounding
Yashin was whether the Senators could afford him next season.
The Gift That Stopped Giving
Last season, Yashin was honored in Ottawa for giving the National
Arts Centre (a facility that houses local and international plays
and theaters as well as the National Symphony Orchestra) a one
million dollar donation. As the time Yashin was photographed
smiling as he handed over the donation to the then NAC head.
In Russia, Yashin's family had been involved with the arts and
Yashin mentioned that he was hopeful that some of the money could
be used to bring more Russian performers to North America. This
would help both the Russian arts community as well allowing North
Americans the chance to enjoy the talents of more Russian
artists.
For this donation, Yashin was heralded not only in Ottawa but
elsewhere in North America and around the world as an example of
what other highly paid sports stars could and should be doing to
pay back their communities. After his contract squabble with the
team, this gift put him in much improved standings in the eyes of
the those who felt he was simply money hungry (at the time his
close to three million a year deal was not small).
Funny Things They Do on TV
The cheque Yashin was photographed with was merely a
representation of the amount that Yashin has agreed to donate
over a five-year period - $200,000 a year - still not too shabby
all things considered.
All good things must come to and end and last week Yashin
announced that he would not be handing over the remaining unpaid
portion of his charitable donation. With the second installment
due, and for reasons as yet unknown, Yashin has refused to pay
the remaining $800,000. Speculation is that Yashin is upset with
the departure of a senior NAC official and the direction of the
NAC.
The NAC board of directors held a news conference (broadcast live
on local TV) to announce that they had recently come to learn
that as part of the $200,000 a year donation, the NAC had agreed
to pay a charitable finder fee of $15,000 a year and had agreed
to pay up to $85,000 a year to a company owned by Yashin's
parents. The news conference announced that the NAC board of
directors had come to learn of Yashin's decision only after
deciding that no services had been rendered by Yashin's parent's
firm and therefore no $85,000 payment was in order.
The 'scandal' took up half of the front page of local papers for
days. Yashin was busy with the All-Star break and his public
comments were few. Stay tuned as he is yet to give his reasons
for reneging other than to say that their is more to the story
than what NAC officials say.
Two large private donations totalling $600,000 from Canadian
business people were reported on January 27th. There is no word
on what strings, if any, these donations come with.
Speaking of Strings - Lace 'Em Up, Tugger!
NHL veteran Ron Tugnutt joined Alexei Yashin as an NHL All-Star,
replacing Curtis Joseph who fell to injury. For Tugger, who
leads all goalies in GAA (1.63) this season, this represented one
of the highlights of his career and he was pleased as punch to be
at the game. When interviewed on TV during the skills
competition the smile on his face went ear to ear and he could be
heard saying "hi mom" at the end of his interview.
Bring on Those Devils! (again)
For the third time in less than a month, the Senators faced the
Devils. This one was a lot closer than the previous two and the
Senators barely squeaked away with a 3-2 victory. A third-period
goal by Wade Redden tied the game at two and Andreas Johansson
netted the game-winner with under eight minutes to go in the
third. The Senators were outshot 31-24.
* The Senators posted a team record fifth straight win.
* For the Sens, this was their first victory when trailing after
two periods (1-8-2) and for New Jersey their first loss when
leading after two periods (16-1-2).
* For Johansson this was his fourth goal in the three games
against New Jersey this season, bringing his total to 17 goals in
41 games. In his 95 previous NHL contests he had nine goals.
Shots on Goal in the Third: Sabres Zero, Senators 13
The Dominator did his job as all the Sens could get by him was
one goal despite outshooting Buffalo 39-15. Buffalo failed to
record a shot in the third period. This was the first time since
February 19, 1981 at Montreal that Buffalo had not registered a
shot on goal in a period. Alexei Yashin extended his points
streak to 11 games. Dominik Hasek continues to lead all goalies
with a 1.23 GAA against the Senators in 23 games.
Errriccc Errriccc Errriccc
Eric Lindros quieted Ottawa fans as the Philadelphia Flyers,
coming off of an impressive unbeaten streak, came into Ottawa
determined to play. And play they did, soundly snapping the
Ottawa unbeaten steak at 11 and the Yashin scoring streak at that
same number. Ottawa could not capitalize on seven power play
attempts and a second-period effort that saw them outshoot the
Flyers 19-8. The only goal of the second was a Flyer power-play
goal with Shawn Van Allen in the box for driving.
* Eric Lindros' two points moved him into first place overall
with 45 points against the Sens (Adam Oates is now in second
place). Lindros has done this in an impress 24 games for an
average of almost two points a game. Lindros' total includes a
five-point game on February 26th, 1997.
* John Vanbiesbrouck recorded his fourth shutout in five games.
Before joining the Flyers, Vanbiesbrouck (35-years-old) did not
have more than four shutouts in any of his previous 15 seasons.
* The Flyers moved to 7-0-3 in their last 10 road games.
Milestones Achieved and on the Way
Radek Bonk moved into third place overall in games played for the
Senators with 280. He surpassed Randy Cunneyworth who has 276.
Bonk is 21 games shy of Alexandre Daigle's 301 games played with
the team.
Hey, congrats to Magnus Arvedson on his 100th game (against New
Jersey) and to Andreas Dackell on his 200th (against the New York
Rangers). A quick look down the Senators career games played
chart confirms that this is a young team with many players in the
2-5 years of experience category.
MSG
After the Flyer loss to end the unbeaten streak, the Senators
rebounded within 24 hours by edging the New York Rangers 2-1 at
MSG. Radek Bonk's first goal in 18 games snapped a third-period
tie. The score in this one was closer than the play, as the
Senators outhustled the Rangers to gain the victory.
The FleetCenter
After a scoreless first, and a trade of goals in the second,
rookie Sami Salo scored his first NHL goal 55 seconds into the
third period to lead the Senators to a 3-1 victory over the
Boston Bruins. Ron Tugnutt made 25 saves for the Senators, who
improved to 6-0-1 in their last seven road games to break the
team record set April 3-19, 1998.
