The Senators were looking to tie together a pair of wins for the first time in far too long, but let two separate leads slip away and lost the game 4-3 in overtime.

Immediately before the game, the Senators recognized Chris Phillips for playing 1000 games in the NHL with a nice little ceremony. Phillips, always a class act, thanked the organization and the city, and received a warm ovation from the appreciative crowd.

From the very first puck drop, the Senators showed a new found confidence thanks to Thursday's win against Nashville. They were constantly in the attacking zone and really utilized their speed created countless chances. It worked well, giving the Senators a 1-0 lead just five minutes into the game as Daniel Alfredsson fired off a sharp shot past Nikolai Khabibulin from a sneaky Erik Karlsson feed.

The Oilers struck back in the second period, though, as the struggling Magnus Paajarvi managed to tie the game up at one. The Senators and Oilers then traded goals late in the second period, with Milan Michalek scoring on a breakaway while Ben Eager tied it up after the refs somehow missed an interference play that prevented Jared Cowen from covering Eager.

The Oilers took their first lead of the game early in the third period when Shawn Horcoff was left wide open in front of the net for an easy goal, while Erik Karlsson evened it up midway through the period, taking this one to overtime.

Overtime was, well, brief. Just 17 seconds in, Taylor Hall -- who the Senators had shut down all afternoon -- scored the game and robbed the Senators of the extra point. Shots were 42-40 in favour of the Senators.

Sens Killer: Nikolai Khabibulin
Normally, letting in three goals hardly qualifies as a Sens Killer. However, Khabibulin faced 42 shots on the night, and turned away countless incredible scoring chances for the Senators. He was rock solid on an afternoon when the Oilers needed him to be, and the Senators suffered because of it.

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The Ottawa Senators will finish off what has been a disappointing homestand with an afternoon game against the Edmonton Oilers. Having lost the first three games, the Senators finally won Thursday night against Nashville. Today, they host an Edmonton club that is second last in the NHL overall and have the worst road record in the NHL, winning just 6 of their 28 road games (6-20-2). The Oilers will be finish off their their three-game road trip where they have been outscored 10-5 in the first two games.

Oh and it is Hockey Day in Canada, so we might see some chest-thumping about how it is "our" game and such.

Craig Anderson will get the start for Ottawa, but there will be no other changes. Here are the lines:

GO SENS GO!

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Jason Spezza leads the Senators with 36 even strength points, but do you know who is second? It's Nick Foligno with 30, two ahead of Erik Karlsson and Daniel Alfredsson. In terms of per 60 minutes of 5-on-5, Foligno is in fact leading the way with 2.41 points per 60 minutes.

On defence, Erik Karlsson leads with 28 even strength points, Sergei Gonchar is second with 15. The two are also first and second on a per 60 minute basis, with Karlsson at 1.41/60 minutes and Gonchar at 1.09.

So given how often Foligno scores on even strength, why does he not get more power play time? He gets 1:12 of power play time per game, which is only eighth among the club's forwards.

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1. He has by far the highest offensive upside.
2. He is the most skilled prospect in terms of: stickhandling, skating and pretty much shot wise as well.
3. Skill is not his number one asset. It's his intensity and his ability to win battles. People who have watched him play consistantly over his career know this.
4. At some point he has proven he can dominate almost every league he has played in.

He is only 21, and actually played quite well for what he was given here in ottawa, just a little extra time to get used to the NHL, a little more confidence and he is a major threat.

Him going back to Russia is not a big deal, he can develop there while making more money to provide for his family whats wrong with that tabernak.... (hockey players have short careers... you've got to make as much as you can).

I dont think fans realize how much of an asset this guy is i have ABSOLUTE confidence this guy will be a good player for the sens everyone just needs to relax and be as patient as possible. Hes the real deal.

45.8 - The Ottawa Senators' chances of making the playoffs, according to SportsClubStats.com.

Last night's win over the Nashville Predators, combined with some relatively positive results in other games (most notably the Toronto Maple Leafs' loss to the Philadelphia Flyers) increased the Sens' chances 5.74 per cent since 24 hours ago.

Obviously, the SportsClubStats methodology isn't perfect: They run a bunch (6.2 million, I believe) of simulations for the remainder of the season, compile those, and generate percentages of the outcome based on them. This is a purely mathematical look at the odds; it doesn't factor in the upcoming schedule, hot streaks, cold streaks, or anything like that (mostly because it's virtually impossible to factor unknown variables into the equation). Still, it's an interesting view of the standings.

Although Ottawa sits in seventh place in the NHL standings, SportsClubStats' calculations predict a ninth-place finish for the Sens, mostly because of the games teams behind Ottawa (namely, the Leafs and the Washington Capitals) have "in hand." Of course, those games are worthless if those teams don't win them.

I was just looking at the schedules of the Eastern Conference teams down the stretch. In the month of March Boston, New Jersey and New York have to play 17 games in a 31 day month. Philly, Washington and Florida have 16 games. Toronto and Pittsburgh 15. Ottawa on the other hand plays 13 games in the month.

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