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Spezza got message loud, clear

Don Brennan ,Ottawa Sun, April 24, 2012

OTTAWA – All is good within the Senators family — including the relationship between the coach and his best offensive player.

Paul MacLean had Jason Spezza stapled to the bench for part of the third period with Ottawa trying to come from behind against the Rangers Monday and, while it wasn’t the first time the two haven’t seen eye-to-eye, the disagreement was magnified by the situation.

“He felt the power play wasn’t going good, and it’s his prerogative to put who he wants on the ice,” Spezza, who met with MacLean Tuesday, said afterwards. “He’s just trying to make a change. We’re all trying to figure out how to win.”

Spezza added that he has no “issue” whatsoever with the coach.

“We have a great relationship, I really like the way he coaches the game,” said Spezza, who has three goals and two assists in the six games against the Rangers. “It’s not saying that I (don’t) disagree sometimes with the things he does. I want to be on the ice at all times in key moments of the game, so at times emotions can come out.

COACH OF THE YEAR

“But I really enjoy Paul as a coach. I think he’s done a phenomenal job with our team. I think that in our minds he should be the coach of the year. He’s turned our club around real quick and given us a chance to win the first round against the No. 1 seed in the east. He’s helped us get to a pretty good position and empowered us as players and given us a chance to play a lot.

“We didn’t agree,” Spezza added with a shrug. “That’s part of being a team. The best teams put that stuff behind them pretty quick.

“If there was a message sent, it’s received. We’re looking forward to playing Game 7, and playing real well.”

MacLean said he wants to see more “consistency” in Spezza’s game and that, as usually the case, he’d like him to play through the middle of the rink and shoot the puck more.

“But we’re not disappointed in any way in how Jason’s playing,” he said. “This is a playoff series where every night the other team makes it hard for you to do things. You have to stick to it. Those are the conversations we have, to remind him to stick to it and stick to it. You’ve got to keep pushing.”

Spezza said it’s not always easy to simply pull the trigger.

“They do such a good job blocking shots, it can be frustrating to keep shooting and they keep getting blocked,” he said. “Sometimes you veer off the page and try to make some plays that, when they work look great and when they don’t everybody gets upset about it.

“You can’t just shoot everything. It doesn’t help to just shoot, shoot, shoot. You have to try and make plays, and when they don’t work you pay the price for it.”

Moving forward, he doesn’t believe Monday’s frustrations will carry over to Game 7.

“It’s all water under the bridge,” said Spezza. “It’s one game. All this stuff, because we have two days in between (games), can made into a mountain from a mole hill. When really we’re just generally excited to be in a Game 7. We find ourselves in a really good position right now, going into (play) a team that has a lot of pressure on them.

“We have a chance to spoil their season, they finished in first place, and we have a chance to make ours a real successful one. We like our position.”

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Sens say internal conflict resolved

Allen Panzeri, Postmedia News, April 24, 2012

Daniel Alfredsson of the Ottawa Senators follows a flying puck during an afternoon practice session in Ottawa, April 22, 2012.

Daniel Alfredsson of the Ottawa Senators follows a flying puck during an afternoon practice session in Ottawa, April 22, 2012.
Photograph by: Jean Levac , Postmedia News

OTTAWA — Daniel Alfredsson once again on Tuesday apologized for his uncharacteristic water bottle-stomping, stick-slamming temper tantrum early in the third period of Monday’s 3-2 loss to the New York Rangers.

But Ottawa Senators coach Paul MacLean was not apologizing for causing Alfredsson’s meltdown by benching him and the rest of the first power-play unit to begin the third. It was by any standard a gutsy, perhaps risky, coaching move, because it could have alienated the team’s top players at the worst possible moment, with the series potentially heading to a deciding seventh game.

MacLean said it was a coaching decision made in the best interests of the team, and he’d do it all over again.

“I think I just coached the team,” MacLean said. “If you go back in the game to the power plays in the second period, we gave up scoring chances at our net with that unit on the ice. We took penalties with that unit on the ice.

“Kyle Turris’ power-play group scored the goal to make it 1-0 for us. So, in the third period, we felt we should give them the opportunity, since they were better.

“When we coach the team every night, we’ve said a lot of times that the best players play, and a lot of nights it’s Jason (Spezza) and (Alfredsson) and that group.

“(Monday night), it wasn’t, so it’s my job as coach to give the team the best opportunity to win, and the players that do that are the ones that should be on the ice at the right time.

“And that’s all it is to me.”

Nonetheless, there were multiple conversations on Tuesday to sooth the boiling frustrations that emerged from the 3-2 loss, which tied the series at 3-3 and sent it to a seventh game on Thursday night at Madison Square Garden.

If Alfredsson has ever thrown a fit like Monday’s in his career, it is difficult to remember, which is why he still appeared deeply chagrined the day after. Just back after missing three games with a concussion, Alfredsson said he was frustrated to begin with and then “lost it” when Rangers centre John Mitchell gave him a “pretty good lick” while he was killing a penalty to Turris.

Alfredsson said he was annoyed with himself because he hadn’t seen Mitchell coming at him sooner. When he got to the bench, he erupted, nearly taking off Colin Greening’s leg when he slammed down his stick.

“I know I have to control myself,” Alfredsson said. “I don’t send a good message to the rest of the team by doing that. So I don’t think you’ll see that happen again.”

When his emotions settled, Alfredsson gave Greening a little tap as if to say, “Sorry about that.”

Spezza accepted that MacLean was sending a message by benching the No. 1 power-play unit.

“I think he just didn’t want us out there because he felt we weren’t going good on the power play,” he said. “That’s his prerogative.

“We didn’t agree. We were trying to score, but that’s part of being a team. The best teams put all that stuff behind them pretty quick.

“If there was a message sent, it was received, and we’re looking forward to playing Game 7 and playing real well.”

Asked the state of his relationship with MacLean, Spezza said the two have no issues at all.

“We have a good relationship and I really like the way he coaches the game,” he said. “It’s not saying I don’t disagree sometimes with things he does, and I want to be on the ice at all times in key moments of the game, and at times emotions can come out.

“But I really enjoy Paul as a coach. I think he has done a phenomenal job with our team, and in our mind he should be the coach of the year.”

Dean
M.Ed (Coaching)
Ch.P.C. (Chartered Professional Coach)
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