Game 4 Recap: Set It Off

Isn't it odd how a guy like Daniel Alfredsson can go from such a hero with that late first period goal to "WTF is he thinking?!?" when he took that shot right at Scott Niedermayer? I couldn't figure that one out at all. Hullie and Grapes were right because it only served to piss off the Ducks. Let's face it, without Chris Pronger in the lineup, the Ducks were playing on edge already. Not the dangerous "this can get out of hand" edge; the "let's get 'em, boys" high-intensity edge. And if Alfredsson was actually trying to injure Scott Niedermayer, well then, that is totally crap. I am in the group who thinks that Niedermayer has been playing injured during this playoff season. Could the Senators have known something that isn't common knowledge outside of the rinks? Perhaps. Still, for a classy guy like Alfredsson to have tried something like that--IF there was intent to injure--then the Senators deserve the choker label for sure.

A lot of people are going to be talking about Grapes and the stand he takes on fighting in the great sport of hockey. Don Cherry is always hilarious to me. He's obviously acting--in the same sense that Howard Stern is acting on the radio and Steve Austin acted when he was on top of the WWF. You just take your real personality and turn it up to 11. I think Cherry believes about half of what he says because he is just trying to get a rise out of people. The act works because he is entertaining and one heck of a snappy dresser.

Look--he goonery has no place but I agree with the instigator rule being taken out of the game. Let the boys police themselves. You will never go back to the thuggery of the '70s because nowadays all players have to be able to skate. No one ever accused guys like Dave the Hammer Schultz and Tiger Williams of being good skaters. Hell, the Isles had a guy named Brian Curran in the late 1980s or early '90s who got 356 PIM one year and I swear he couldn't even stand on his skates!

For all of you Senators fans out there, keep in mind the immortal words of Charles Bronson, "It...Ain't...Over." I do think if Ottawa can get two quick ones tomorrow night that the Ducks may be on their heels and the fans will be taken out of the game. The return of Pronger and the leftover venom from the Niedermayer situation are going to be tough for Ottawa to overcome.

Oh--and Alanis should not be allowed to sing the anthems any more. She simply cannot sing. Horrible horrible horrible. I was hoping that Ontario Provincial Police dude was going to come out and make her stop. You down with the OPP? Well, yeah, you know me...