Sens impressing at the quarter pole

The Ottawa Senators bounced back from a surprising 3-0 loss to a hungry and new-look Bruins team Thursday night to beat the formidable LA Kings last night in a scrap-filled 5-1 win.

Although I didn't watch the game, I caught the highlights and I think that this team is unquestionably the real deal. They are sticking up for each other, not backing down and are playing some extremely inspired hockey. In my view, a lot of this has to do with the coach. Witness Bryan Murray's expletive-ridden tirade against Kings color man Jim Fox after the game in response to Fox's suggestion that the Senators bench boss sent players out to antagonize the Kings well into the third period last night. The Senators organization of old would have taken that kind of accusation lying down. In fact, the Sens of old wouldn't have even bothered to drop the gloves. As a long-time fan of the New Jersey Devils, this is the kind of commitment to victory that I love to see. If you are to be a true winner, you have to not take any of that kind of crap from anyone and this Sens team is definitely commanding respect.

Although my prediction at the start of the year was that Calgary would beat Ottawa in the finals, if the team keeps up their work ethic and remains focused, and I think they will, I may have to make a revision.

Go Sens Go!