Senators Articles: Senators want to get defensive; Coaches trying new philosophy
December 31, 2004

Posted by: Bob Howard
Credit: Scott Lauber of Press Connects.com

Senators want to get defensive

Coaches trying new philosophy

BY SCOTT LAUBER

Press & Sun-Bulletin

BINGHAMTON -- Last week, after the first of back-to-back thrashings of the dreadful Albany River Rats, Brian Pothier was pressed for reasons for the upturn in the Binghamton Senators' performance. Reasons other than that they were playing Albany, that is.

"It may not sound logical, but it really is true," the defenseman began. "When you put yourself in a defensive position, you get more (offensive) opportunities. Instead of just trying to make plays, we're putting ourselves in a position to make plays."

For months, coaches Dave Cameron and John Paddock have preached that mindset to a skilled Senators team that has a reputation around the AHL for playing a style that is too wide-open. They've insisted that offense can be generated from sound positional defense, and five victories in six games in which the Senators allowed a total of 10 goals was testament to that.

Just when it seemed they might be buying into the philosophy, the Senators returned to their run-and-gun ways, neglecting their defensive responsibilities and getting blown out by the Hershey Bears, 7-3, on Wednesday night.

And now, entering tonight's New Year's Eve home game against the Springfield Falcons, the Senators are at a crossroads. If they're serious about changing their fortunes, Cameron says they must change the way they play.

"You never want to say that your next two games will determine the course of your season," Cameron said Thursday morning after an hour-long practice and before a video session to reinforce his points. "But I think our next two games will give us an idea of whether we're going to play like we did in the last six games or whether we're slow learners."

The Senators fell behind against Hershey only 100 seconds off the opening draw and wound up allowing 39 shots, including several breakaways against goalie Ray Emery. They didn't play physical enough to neutralize the speed of the Bears' forwards and took far too many chances, even when the game was close.

Hershey coach Paul Fixter, like most coaches around the AHL, described the Senators as a "very highly skilled team," but said he thought the Bears were able to "outwork and outbattle them for most of the night."

Cameron believes the Senators, 17-13-3-2 and tied for second place in the East Division, are perceived as a run-and-gun team that is vulnerable to poor positional play. And based on how they've played through many of their first 35 games, he said that perception is valid.

"If there's an opportunity there to attack, you attack," Cameron said. "But you don't cheat for offense. You get offense through good positional play. When we're not at the top of our game, we cheat to create offense. This league is too good for that. You have to respect the league."

Said Pothier, "We have to get back to playing the way we were, and the good thing is we've got a couple more games coming up this week. We're not going to go ahead and get crazy, but (tonight) will be a good test to see how we bounce back."

MOVING ON

Star center Jason Spezza was at the forefront of Wednesday night's loss, becoming just the second player in the AHL this season to post a minus-5 rating in a game.

But Spezza wasn't dwelling on the performance.

"If you get hung up on a game like that, things will just get worse," Spezza said. "Everything that could've gone wrong went wrong, and everything that had to go wrong went wrong. If you make a habit of it, then it's a problem. But you can't let a night like that keep you down."

Fixter matched lines against the Senators, and Spezza received a heavy dose of center Eric Perrin, a 5-foot-9 center who tallied 75 points in 71 games for the Bears last season before joining the Tampa Bay Lightning for its run to the Stanley Cup.

"Eric Perrin's a great hockey player, but you could've put anyone out there against us and it wasn't going to make much of a difference," Spezza said. "They came at us pretty hard, and they tried to make it tough on our 'D.' We didn't have good hold-ups, and we gave them too many breakaways.

"It's good to see the guys were (ticked) off in practice. Early on, we weren't practicing as hard as we should've, and I think we paid for that. We haven't had too much practice time lately, and it's good to have one like this and get ready for the weekend."