“It’s a good team that needs some structure and some accountability,” Hartsburg told the Sault Star on Thursday. “And if it gets that, then it should be a good hockey club.”

Murray had this to say about Ray Emery:  “My plan is not to have him back,”

Murray dodged questions asking him if the Senators would buy out Emery’s contract if there were no teams who would trade for Ray Emery.  Murray did make it clear that they want Emery to be traded because of his attitude problems with this comment:

“I don’t know if he was a total distraction or not, but the fact is he didn’t play down the stretch and he didn’t play in the playoffs, and that was a result of him not having played as well as he did a year ago,” Murray said. “He didn’t, in my opinion, commit to the team in the way that we think our players have to commit.”

note:  quotes courtesy of tsn.ca

Alfredsson came back for one more shift in the 2nd period before sitting out the rest of the game.  While the Senators are calling Alfredsson’s injury an “upper-body injury”, although Alfredsson’s injury is surely a concussion.  Team officials are saying that Alfredssson is out indefinitely and could miss many weeks.  As it is the Senators need a little bit of luck to make the playoffs if the Senators lose to the Bruins tonight.

No matter the cause, the Ottawa Senators are currently sitting with 92 points with 2 games remaining (Thursday vs. Toronto and Friday vs. Boston).  The 2 teams that are only 1 point back are the Flyers and the Bruins.  Both teams play tonight, and if they both win the Senators will be sitting in 8th place with 1 games left to play.  The upstart Washington Capitals are tied for the division lead in the Southeast Division with the Carolina Hurricanes with 90 points.

So, lets see how the Senators can miss the playoffs.  The Bruins and Flyers each have 3 games left.  If both teams win at least 1 game each, the Hurricanes win 1 more game and the Capitals win one more game and the Senators lose out, then the Senators miss the playoffs.  While the Senators and the Capitals would be tied with 42 wins and 92 points, the Capitals won the season series with the Senators 4-0 this year for the tiebreaker.  If the Senators unable to get points in their last 2 games there is a very real possibility they will be missing the playoffs.

The Capitals play the Lightning and the Thrashers and the Hurricanes final 2 games are against the Panthers and Thrashers.  Both teams are out of playoff contention.  The Bruins have 3 games left and play the Devils, Senators and Sabers.  The Flyer’s final 3 games are against the Penguins, Devils then Penguins.

At this point in time I would bet against the Senators making the playoffs. They are playing poor, uninspired hockey right now and they don’t deserve to be a playoff team.  How would Ottawa fans take it if this talented team didn’t make it to the 2008 NHL playoffs?

Ty Conklin got the start and the loss for the Penguins who have now allowed 5 goals in their last 2 games, both losses.  Ottawa started Martin Gerber who got the win, but was shaky in the effort.  Neither goalie impressed in the game this afternoon.

Ryan Malone scored twice for the Penguins while the Senators got goals from Heatley, Vermette and newcomer Martin Lapointe.  The Senators are now tied for 1st place in the Eastern Conference with New Jersey, who plays tonight against the Montreal Canadians in a battle for 1st place in the Eastern Conference.

Assistant coach Ron Low was also fired on Wednesday.

“It comes certainly because of performance lately,” Murray said. “The results we’ve been having — or not having — was an indicator that some adjustment, some emotion had to be brought back to the team.”

Murray was the Sens coach last year when they made it all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals before losing to the Ducks.  John Paddock was hired int he off-season to take over coaching duties for the Senators.

The Senators are such a deep team with the strongest line in all of hockey, with Spezza, Heatley and Alfredsson, plus a great defense and 2 good goalies.  There was no reason for such a falloff from such a strong team, and now Murray will try and turn things around as head coach for the Ottawa Senators.  Although this was Paddock’s first season as head coach of the Senators, he had been with the Senators organization for 6 years.  Paddock was offered an undisclosed job with the Ottawa Senators despite being fired as the Ottawa head coach.

This is the first time the big line of Spezza – Heatley – Alfredsson has played together in 13 games, and they dominated the game. Heatley returned last game for the Senators and in his two games since he returned he has 7 points.

Most importantly for the Senators, they opened up a 5 point lead for first place in the Eastern Conference. The Senators look to continue their domination next against Buffalo on Tuesday.

The Senators just got Dany Heatley back, and now Alfredsson will come back to complete the most dangerous line in hockey.  The Heatley, Spezza and Alfredsson combo terrorizes every team they play against, and now that they are united I would expect the Senators to go on a roll.  Alfredsson and the Senators will host the Montreal Canadians tomorrow night at 4 pm eastern time.

The two yelled at each other for a minute, but the situation was resolved as Coach Paddock came into break the two up.

The Senators have gone 3-7 in their last 10 games, but still hold 1st place in the Northeast Division.  Emery has been a distraction with his constant complaining and unwillingness to be a team player.  Rumors have swirled that Emery may be traded, but it isn’t going to happen this season due to his contract or attitude.

Alfredsson has gotta love going into the All Star Break by breaking his team’s losing streak while putting up a monstrous 7 point night.  Alfredsson now leads the NHL in scoring with 67 points.