Groin pains force Havlat out of lineup

By BRUCE GARRIOCH -- Ottawa Sun


Martin Havlat limped out of the coach's office yesterday with a long face.

After suffering a left groin injury in the Senators' 2-1 loss in Philadelphia on Tuesday, Havlat didn't suit up last night against Pittsburgh.

"I don't know how long it's going to be ... at least a week and maybe two," said Havlat. "It's tough because I was just starting to feel like I was starting to play the way I can play. This is hard."

"It happened on the last shift of the first period. I just turned the wrong way and I knew right away that I was in trouble. I knew that it was serious. I can't skate. I can't do anything."

The loss of Havlat meant Binghamton's leading scorer Brad Smyth, an Ottawa native, was called up. He got an early assist on a Daniel Alfredsson goal and moved into the right-side spot on a line with Magnus Arvedson and Mike Fisher.

Smyth, 29, who had four goals and two assists in five games at Binghamton, was happy to play a home game in front of a couple of dozen family and friends.

"This is exciting for me. It's good to get the opportunity and it shows they're noticing the hard work that you're doing down there."

LOOKING FORWARD TO MARIO: Jason Spezza said he idolized Mario Lemieux. "I was hoping they would have a morning skate ... I was going to steal one his sticks," said Spezza with a laugh. "I liked everything he did. I had posters of him in my room."

HIS EARS WORK: One of the good things that came out of Saturday's game was winger Martin Havlat getting his first goal of the season. "More than seeing him get his first goal, it was good to see him shooting," said Martin, who had a sitdown with Havlat to tell him to take more shots. "That's the key for Martin." Havlat had just five shots in the Senators' first five games. He had a team-leading seven shots against the Canadiens Saturday night.

Hackett stops Sens cold


By BRUCE GARRIOCH -- Ottawa Sun


MONTREAL -- Canadiens 5, Senators 3

Nobody had to ask Senators winger Marian Hossa twice who he'd start in net for the Montreal Canadiens in their next game.

"I know about (the controversy) ... I have a pretty good idea who it will be," said a frustrated Hossa, after he and the Senators were stoned by 45 saves from Habs goalie Jeff Hackett in a 5-3 loss last night at the Bell Centre.

The result was a halt to Ottawa's four-game unbeaten streak (3-0-1).

Only captain Daniel Alfredsson, winger Martin Havlat and defenceman Wade Redden were able to solve Hackett, who was replacing 2001-02 MVP Jose Theodore, while Yanic Perreault led the Habs with two goals. Richard Zednik, Craig Rivet and Patrice Brisebois had a goal apiece.

"We had lots of chances and it just seemed like every chance they had ended up in our net," said Ottawa goalie Patrick Lalime, who faced 21 shots. "That's a tough loss for us to take."

After outshooting the Habs 33-13 through the first 40 minutes, the Senators still found themselves down 2-1.

Much of this night looked like the Senators were men playing against boys -- the biggest with the last name Hackett, who stopped everything Ottawa threw his way until Havlat scored at 13:52 of the second period.

Hackett made the first stop on Havlat, who swept home the rebound with one hand on his stick on the club's 31st shot of the game. That should have opened the floodgates, but it didn't.

"It was a tough loss ... especially after the way we played in the first two periods," said Ottawa captain Alfredsson. "We had a lot of huge opportunities and Hackett was just unbelievable. We just couldn't get it home."

Hossa had two breakaways and he was stopped all alone in the slot, while Hackett also shut down Jody Hull and Zdeno Chara on breakaways.

Jason Spezza, who was inserted into the lineup for the second straight game because of an injury to centre Radek Bonk, had three glorious opportunities and came away with nothing.

"It just seemed like there was invisible glass in front of that net," said Spezza, who missed a wide-open net in the first. "We had so many chances and we just couldn't get them in. Everything we shot, he was able to make the save on.

"The good thing is I felt pretty comfortable out there. I'm definitely more relaxed and the time I spent in the minors has helped me develop my game. Hopefully, it's enough that they'll keep me more here and give me the chance."

"I don't think we gave them many chances," said Senators coach Jacques Martin. "We made some mistakes and the puck ended up in our net."

Sens' rising stars young, restless

Time for youth to lead Cup charge


By BRUCE GARRIOCH -- Ottawa Sun

The Senators are fully loaded with young guns.

Now it's time for those up-and-coming stars to take the next step.

The team has always been built around the success of their young players. The next step in the playoffs will require career seasons from the young guys.

Production from wingers Martin Havlat and Marian Hossa and centre Mike Fisher will go a long way in determining whether the Senators can finally shelve their playoff demons and challenge for the Stanley Cup.

"We know that the success of the young players on this team is one of the keys," says Fisher, going into his fourth NHL season. "Look at a guy like Martin Havlat; his first two years have been excellent, you just hope that he can mature to become a better player as we keep going forward.

"I know guys like myself and Marian Hossa have to keep getting better. I don't know if I can put up numbers like those guys, but I want to be an all-around player. You want to be a player that they can count on. We all do."

The Senators, since returning to the NHL in 1992, have put the emphasis on improving from within.

Unable to compete with the big salaries of the New York Rangers or Detroit Red Wings, the Senators have drafted the likes of Daniel Alfredsson, Radek Bonk, Wade Redden, Magnus Arvedson and Chris Phillips to build toward success.

Sure, trades have fetched goalie Patrick Lalime and defencemen Zdeno Chara and Curtis Leschyshyn, but a big part of what they do on the ice is going to depend on how well Havlat, Hossa and Fisher mature.

For his part, Havlat spent the summer in Ottawa trying to get ready for the season. He was bored skating at home, so he came here to work with conditioning coach Randy Lee.

"We all know this is a big year for us," says Havlat. "This is my third year, Fisher is in his fourth and Hossa's in his fifth. We know we have to get better. Nobody expects much in the first few years, but we know (expectations) are going to be higher.

"People are going to expect us to help this team win. That's going to be a lot of pressure, but we all want to perform. The first thing you have to do when you play in the league is get to know the game. You have to learn from what's happened in the past."

The Senators are hoping the young players have learned from the sick feeling of post-season elimination.

But Ottawa needs Fisher to stay healthy, while Havlat and Hossa are going to have to continue to play through traffic to win the battles for pucks along the boards. There's no question all three have the talent.

"The young players have to have big years if you're going to win the Stanley Cup," says GM John Muckler. "Everybody has to play well, but the one thing you can get from youth is enthusiasm. It makes everybody stronger. If they've got a good work ethic, then they can get the veteran players excited. I'm excited about the young talent this team has. Hopefully, these players can mature and get us to where we want to be."

HAVLAT ON THE MOVE: W Martin Havlat appears to be headed back to the right side after playing on the left throughout training camp. He skated yesterday with LW Magnus Arvedson and C Mike Fisher. "I don't know. I can't really say much ... I guess we'll find out (tomorrow)," said Havlat, who had worked well on the left side in a duo with the departed Spezza. "I would think I'll play the right side. That's the way it looked today, but we'll see."

Prusek still a 'keeper'



By BRUCE GARRIOCH -- Ottawa Sun

Martin Prusek got his baptism by fire last night and ended up getting burned.

Making his debut as the Senators No. 2 goalie, the Canadiens had Prusek seeing red in an easy 9-4 victory over Ottawa in pre-season action in front of 17,832 at the Bell Centre.

After being handed the backup role behind Patrick Lalime when Jani Hurme was dealt to the Florida Panthers last Tuesday, Prusek looked terrible, allowing nine goals on 28 shots.

But the Senators aren't giving up hope on the young netminder, who made only his second appearance after missing most of the pre-season with a pulled groin.

"We didn't get the stops, but Prusek hasn't played a lot," said Senators coach Jacques Martin. "He'd only played (30 minutes) before this and we've got some time to work with him on some things. It was tough for him.

"I think we've learned that you have to work harder and we have to play better defensively. I thought we came back a little stronger in the third period, but they seemed to get momentum off power-play goals."

HAVLAT'S OKAY

Winger Martin Havlat, who left the game after colliding with Montreal's Oleg Petrov, declared himself healthy after getting treatment on his left knee.

"It's good. It's nothing serious," said Havlat. "At first it hurt but I think that's because we just caught each other knee-on-knee. I don't think there was anything dirty about it."

Senators defenceman Zdeno Chara left the game in the second period with a possible knee injury and didn't return for the third.

While Yanic Perreault and Donald Audette led the attack for Montreal (7-2-0-0) with two-goal performances, the fact Ottawa was outscored 17-4 in two pre-season games against the Habs doesn't bode well for the future of some players.

Even centre Radek Bonk continued his pre-season skid and the Senators can only hope he snaps out of it when the puck is dropped Thursday in the team's season-opener against the New Jersey Devils at the Corel Centre.

Montreal goalie Jose Theodore, however, does deserve some credit for last night's victory as he turned aside 36-of-40 shots. Wade Redden, Shaun Van Allen, Curtis Leschyshyn and rookie Petr Schastlivy were able to find the twine for the Senators, who close out the pre-season 2-5-0-0.

"We obviously didn't want to close out the exhibition season this way," said Senators defenceman Chris Phillips. "I guess the good news is it was an exhibition game. We can be better."

But before the Senators start the season, they'll have a couple of interesting decisions to make involving top-prospect centre Jason Spezza and rookie defenceman Anton Volchenkov, who have both had strong camps.

Martin tried moving centre Mike Fisher to the wing to open up a spot in the middle for Spezza, but neither player was able to breakthrough offensively in this game.

Though Volchenkov would seem like a lock to start the season in Ottawa ahead of Brian Pothier, the Senators want to make sure they're going in the right direction when it comes to sending a top prospect to Binghamton.

"We want to put Spezza -- and Volchenkov -- in the best situation for them to develop," said Martin. "We've got decisions to make with regards to those two guys. They've both performed well in camp and now we're going to have sit down to talk about it."

Another guy wearing a Toronto hat offered the players who wanted to buy sweaters for their fishing trip a ride to the local second-hand store.

When Radek Bonk, Marian Hossa and Martin Havlat all prepared to jump into his car, the fan said: "Hey, I can't take everybody."