Senators ups and downs: Week 18

by Mark Parisi on Feb 13, 2012 7:00 AM EST in Ottawa Senators ups and downs

Chris Phillips uses a previously unrevealed super power to confuse General Zod. (Photo by Jana Chytilova/Freestyle Photography/Getty Images)

(Ups and downs is a feature that looks at the individual performances of the Ottawa Senators during the past week.)

Well, Senators nostalgia week was more fun to talk about than it was to watch. The team captured three of a possible six points on the week, a disappointing result considering their effort level. Unfortunately, the NHL doesn't give out points for effort. Luckily, they do give out points for overtime losses. So, we've got that going for us, which is nice.

The week saw visits to Ottawa from last year's whipping goat (that's a whipping boy AND a scapegoat in case you couldn't figure it out) Brian Elliott, unverified demigod Mike Fisher, and also saw Chris Phillips celebrate his 1,000th game in a big way... which makes for a nice little transition.

Biggest gains: Chris Phillips
Well, he scored his first two goals of the year in his 1,000th game. Those two goals means he's tied for the week's leader with Jason Spezza and Daniel Alfredsson. That's pretty good company. Oh, and he played two of his best defensive games of the year against St. Louis and Nashville. All that is enough to forgive him a weak game against Edmonton, but the goodwill only lasts for a little while.

Biggest losses: Zenon Konopka
Konopka only played 7:06 against St. Louis, taking just one faceoff, which he, of course, won. He also had a fight, which means he spent almost as much time in the penalty box as he did on the ice. Apparently this performance was unimpressive enough that he was scratched for the remainder of the week while AHL callup Jim O'Brien remained in the lineup.

(read on for the full rundown...)

Goalies	Trend	Notes
Craig Anderson		Mercifully hooked after letting in two terrible goals against St. Louis. Stole a point against Edmonton with some great saves, but could have earned two points with some timely saves instead.
Alex Auld		He won his start. That's all you can ask of a backup.
Defensemen
Matt Carkner		Carkner's speed was a liability the previous week, and it was probably a major factor in his being scratched most of the week in favor of Brian Lee.
Jared Cowen		The rookie's struggles continue as he was demoted to the third pairing this week.
Sergei Gonchar		With just one point, a minus-2 rating, and an uncomfortable pairing with Phillips, it's safe to say Gonchar did not have a good week.
Erik Karlsson		12 shots and a multipoint (1G, 1A) game? Welcome back, Erik!
Filip Kuba		It's probably not possible for Kuba to get more even than he was this week.
Brian Lee		It's the second half of the season, so Brian Lee is good again.
Chris Phillips		See "Biggest gains."
Forwards
Daniel Alfredsson		Last week we wrote that he couldn't carry the team at age 39. We may have been wrong--he was the team's best forward all week.
Bobby Butler		After being scratched last week, he drew back into the lineup (on the top line, no less) and immediately notched three assists in two games. Now the question is: Can he keep it up?
Erik Condra		Condra is a great role-player.
Kaspars Daugavins		He's played as many games as Filip Kuba for the team this year, and while he's never going to blossom into the 50-goal guy everyone expected, he's obviously doing something right.
Nick Foligno		Demoted to the fourth line. Does not deserve to be there.
Colin Greening		No points this week as he learns to play with new linemates Turris and Alfie.
Zenon Konopka		See "Biggest losses."
Milan Michalek		Milan was ridiculously dedicated to scoring a goal this week. We'd be surprised if he didn't manifest some kind of psychic power just from wanting it so bad.
Chris Neil		A fourth line role doesn't seem to suit his playing style, which is strange because he's such an energy player--though he did have three shots against Edmonton.
Jim O'Brien		Though not logging huge minutes, he's playing them hard, which means he can't be benched. Reminds us of another AHL callup who's played a ton of games this season. No, not Andre Petterson.
Zack Smith		Apparently February is hitting month--he has 10 in three games. We liked "scoring month" better.
Jason Spezza		Six points in three games. He had one point during the team's seven-game losing streak. Coincidence? Nope.
Kyle Turris		No points this week. No points in the month of February so far, for that matter.

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Comments

Good Write Up Mark

Agree with Foligno, he’s too good to be there, although that line with Neil and O’Brien did really well vs. the Oilers.

Andy should have stopped the Eager goal. However it can be argued that allowing 38 shots shouldn’t have happened either. The D zone coverage is bad, first period was good, rest of the game not so much.

I like O’Brien, doesn’t try to do too much, just plays hard and he actually goes to the net. That’s refreshing.

Agree with Turris, he’s got to be better. Not that he’s been awful, but teams are starting to pay more attention to him. He’s got to adjust. In his defense, he’s probably not in mid-season form.

I know it was expected, but Cowen is really having a tough time. He’s giving the puck away quite a bit, especially when he hangs on to it too much trying to make a play. But again, that’s expected from a rookie.

Good effort this week, I thought all three games we played the way that made us successful, but we really need to tighten up the D cause we’re giving up way too many good opportunities.

Go Sens GO!

by I Still Miss Hossa!!! on Feb 13, 2012 8:09 AM EST reply actions

I wouldn't close the book on Daugavins

He might very well still develop into a 40- to 50-goal scorer in this league. He’s still just a rookie, after all.

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by Peter Raaymakers on Feb 13, 2012 8:27 AM EST reply actions

I'm giving up on him

He’s never going to win the Rocket Richard like we all thought. GO AHEAD AND WRITE IT.

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by Mark Parisi on Feb 13, 2012 10:57 AM EST up reply actions

In terms of Foligno and Neil

I’d say right now, we have a 1st line, 2nd line, and two 3.5 lines. Our third-line centre with fourth-line wingers (smith’s line) and our fourth-line centre with third-line wingers (J’OBs line) and I quite like the current set up of all 4 of the lines. We looked really strong against Edm, minus the 17 seconds of overtime. Khabilbulin absolutely stole that game.

by DaveYoung on Feb 13, 2012 9:56 AM EST reply actions

Agreed Khabibulin stole that game.

I’m not sure we have a 1st and 2nd line though. Our first (assuming you mean the lines below) is a good, but not great 1st line, and our second is a mediocre/weak second at best. I think we need another “top six forward” to have a good 1st line to be honest, but that can come next year with Silferberg, Zibanejad, Stone or Puempel making a push for those positions. We do have a lot of 3rd/4th line guys though, which will be good if we make a playoff run as we’ll need the depth.

Michalek – Spezza – Greening/Butler
Foligno – Turris – Alfie

by The Tif on Feb 13, 2012 10:43 AM EST up reply actions

i agree

it’s more like we have two 1.5 lines (assuming Turris turns he brief ‘struggles’ around) and two 3.5 lines. Up front right now is not what concerns me – we have more than enough skill to score the goals we need to, throughout our line-up. It’s the play in our own end and being able to reliable get the puck out without a forward having to come back behind the goal line and dig the puck out. A deal for a solid stay-at-home D man is what’s called for, in my opinion. if we DO end up making the playoffs, the lack of that will show up in spades, i think.

by west-sider on Feb 13, 2012 11:54 AM EST up reply actions

I said this yesterday - I would be okay with giving Weber or Suter a 5-6 year contract at $7 mill per.

Then we have our back end set for years with

Karlsson – Weber
Phillips (for 2 years) – Cowen
Lee – Carkner

Phasing out: Kuba (this year), Gonchar (next year) and Phillips (year after). If one of Borowiecki, Blood etc work out, then we have space for them.

by The Tif on Feb 13, 2012 12:11 PM EST up reply actions

I'd be okay with that

We’d have a lot of money tied up in our top pairing, though.

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by Mark Parisi on Feb 13, 2012 12:14 PM EST up reply actions

Wouldn't be much worse than Vancouver, Boston or other teams.

But yeah – it’s a lot of money. But then our D is set for the next 5-6 years!

by The Tif on Feb 13, 2012 12:19 PM EST up reply actions

THANK YOU

That’s been my fantasy top-6 on CapGeek’s 2012-13 calculator for awhile now

by tugnutt'n'rhodes on Feb 13, 2012 5:49 PM EST up reply actions

I don't see why not.

We’ve got the cap space, we’re a competitive team, and we don’t have any other stud d-prospects. Even if we did, all it would mean is Karlsson-Weber would play a few less minutes, which may help them.

by The Tif on Feb 13, 2012 7:06 PM EST up reply actions

Spezza helps his wingers

… so it is no surprise to see Butler doing well. I’d love to see him flourish in that top line roll.

Re: Foligno and Neil – I’d like to see Foligno get some PP time. I get that Neil is supposed to be the guy who is willing to pay the price in front of the net, but he just doesn’t have the hands to finish.

by OttawaWendy on Feb 13, 2012 10:52 AM EST reply actions

We need a tough SOB who can skate on D. An anchor for Kid Karlsson and a way to shore up second pairing by combining Kuba and Gonchar.

by Be_rad on Feb 13, 2012 11:31 AM EST reply actions

But then we'd be scratching both Lee and Carkner

While I agree that we need another top guy to play alongside Karlsson, I just don’t think it can be addressed until next season.

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by Mark Parisi on Feb 13, 2012 11:43 AM EST up reply actions

oh, if only we had grabbed Sidenberg out of Florida...

by west-sider on Feb 13, 2012 11:55 AM EST up reply actions

Sure it can

There’s nothing preventing us from scratching both of those two, nor is it unlikely that one of them (or perhaps one of Kuba or Gonchar) will be part of an outgoing package for a mobile mean S.O.B.

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by Peter Raaymakers on Feb 13, 2012 1:22 PM EST up reply actions