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.

Continue reading this post »

With two Ottawa Senators storylines going into Thursday's game against the Nashville Predators, you knew something special was going to happen. As it turns out, it was Chris Phillips who made it so.

Goals were exchanged, and the game was closer than it should have been considering the massive very, very effective powerplay the Sens had going for them. But really, in sum, there are two things you need to know: The Senators won 4-3, and Phillips provided exactly half of the offence.

Oh yeah, and the Sens are ahead of the Leafs in the standings again.

Sens Hero: Chris Phillips
On Thursday we were graced with the presence of Phillips' alter ago, Clutch Chris. Clutch Chris makes perfect passes, steps up in the play when appropriate, punishes opponents physically, and makes strong defensive plays. Unfortunately, Clutch Chris doesn't come around too often--mostly just in overtime, and occasionally for milestone games. He came out for his milestone 1,000th game against the Predators: He threw five hits, used his active stick to negate all sorts of Nashville pressure, and, of course, scored his first and second goals of the season. It was obviously his best game of the year--the latter standing up as the game-winner.

Continue reading this post »

The Senators faced a familiar face in net tonight as they looked for a win after six straight losses, but Brian Elliott and the St. Louis Blues closed the door on the Sens, winning Chris Phillips' 999th game by a 3-1 score.

Ottawa appeared to come out of the gate strong, getting two good chances within the opening minute. Unfortunately, the wheels started falling off shortly afterward, with the Blues getting two quick goals in the game's first five minutes. The first was a Roman Polak point shot that was tipped in by Chris Porter less than two minutes in, while the second came as David Perron was allowed to walk right in front of Craig Anderson and bury it. After letting in two goals on four shots, Anderson was pulled.

After getting down by two, the Senators started to improve. Daniel Alfredsson got the team on the board with a powerplay goal less than a minute into the second period, bringing the Senators within one. The team started to control the play a bit, and a comeback seemed possible. Unfortunately, the Blues played terrific defense -- the team is simply relentless within their own zone -- and managed to capitalize on an Erik Karlsson giveaway as David Perron scored his second of the game to give his team another two-goal lead.

Unforunately, that 3-1 score would remain for the rest of the game. Ottawa had their chances, but simply couldn't bury them. They finished ahead in the shots department 29-18, something that they've been surprisingly good at as of late (during this losing streak, they've outshot their opponents in 5 of 7 games).

Continue reading this post »

Things started well for the Ottawa Senators. Well, the first shift was good, anyway. Kyle Turris won the faceoff, and Daniel Alfredsson broke in and got a good shot on James Reimer.

But it was all downhill from there.

The Toronto Maple Leafs made the most of their scoring chances, while Ottawa--despite lots of shots--didn't have many scoring chances, and those that they had were stopped by Reimer. Five different Leafs scored on Craig Anderson, and the game finished with a 5-0 score. It wasn't pretty. Add it to the list of memorable blowouts.

Sens Killer: Phil Kessel
Same shit, different day. Once again, Kessel lit the Senators up like a Christmas tree, finishing the game with a goal and two assists--both assists terrific passes without which no offence would have been created. His speed, his shot, and (tonight anyway) his playmaking looked most of Ottawa's defencemen look downright foolish tonight. He now has 9P (4G, 5A) in 5GP against the Sens so far this season.

Continue reading this post »

You know how the Senators were supposed to come out firing against a weaker opponent? Well that didn't happen. The good news is that the Senators finally picked up a point. The bad news is that they lost for the fifth straight game, matching their longest losing streak of the season.

The Islanders controlled the play for the first period but the Senators managed to escape with a 0-0 score. Shots were 14-8 for New York after one and scoring chances were 9-4 for the visitors. The second period was close to ending with a similar score until Zack Smith scored a brutal goal that went off Evgeni Nabokov's glove with just 13 seconds left in the period. At the intermission, shots were 9-7 for Ottawa in the middle frame and scoring chances were 5-2 for the Senators.

Unfortunately, for the second straight game, the Senators couldn't hold a lead in the third period. At the 5:27 mark of the third, Matt Martin tied the game after being left completely wide open due to Jared Cowen inexplicably chasing the puck carrier that was already covered by Sergei Gonchar. Ottawa didn't generate much in the third period but managed to take it into overtime after being outshot 9-6 and outchanced 6-2 in the third period.

The overtime winner saw Cowen once again leave his man all alone, this time Mark Eaton was the beneficiary. It wasn't a good performance by the Senators and two brain cramps from their rookie defencemen were the difference.

Continue reading this post »

The Ottawa Senators may have lost 4-3 to the Boston Bruins, but by no means were they outplayed by the champions. Despite many things going against them, they were in the game right to the end. The play had been spotty on the west coast trip, but after a week off, the Senators came to play and dominated Boston for stretches. On 5-on-5, Ottawa outshot Boston 33-22 on the night.

The Bruins took the lead in the first period on a power play goal from, what else, a Zdeno Chara slap shot. The Senators would tie it up later in the period when Colin Greening tipped in his 12th goal of the season. A 1-1 scoreline on the road in Boston was certainly a good effort by the visitors.

The second period was complete and utter domination by the Senators. Kyle Turris put the Senators ahead on a beautiful snipe from a Daniel Alfredsson pass. Turris returned the favour to Alfredsson, but the captain's shot would hit the post. Ottawa wouldn't back off and took a 3-1 lead from Erik Karlsson's eighth goal on a 2-on-1 with Chris Neil. A two-goal lead heading into the intermission would have been fantastic, but it was not to be. Milan Lucic's shot hit Erik Karlsson's leg and deflected into the net with just 45 seconds left in the second period.

Karlsson was called for tripping on the slightest of touches early in the third period and Brad Marchand tied the game on the resulting power play. At the 7:09 mark, the Bruins went ahead for good on a goal that can be blamed entirely on Craig Anderson. Dennis Seidenberg's shot from centre ice beat the Ottawa goaltender. Not much else you can say on that. The Senators had two or three great chances in the last 30 seconds, but could not find the equaliser.

Continue reading this post »

The Ottawa Senators have been in the midst of a mild slump lately, losing their last two games and 3 of their last 5. It would have been a nice boost for the team to get a win before the All-Star Break, but another game of uninspired hockey saw the Senators walk out with a 3-2 loss to the Phoenix Coyotes.

The Senators actually outshot their opponents this game -- something they have not been doing lately -- but their game seemed to lack intensity and the chances they generated never really seemed that dangerous. They allowed the Phoenix Coyotes to take a 2-0 lead on goals from Gilbert Brule and Shane Doan before Daniel Alfredsson finally got the Senators on the board 37 minutes into the game. Only down 2-1 going into the third, it seemed like the late-surging Senators might actually be able to pull this one out.

Unfortunately, the Senators couldn't seem to find the win tonight. The Coyotes scored 1:30 into the period to give themselves a 3-1 lead, and though Chris Neil netted his ninth of the season just 14 seconds later, the Senators never could bring the game back to a tie. It appeared they had tied it up late in the third when Daniel Alfredsson put the puck in the back of the net off a rebound, but the goal was disallowed as referee Tim Peel felt Nick Foligno had interfered with goalie Mike Smith. The Senators went on the penalty kill, and never managed to find that tying marker, falling 3-2 to the 'Yotes. The Sens will have plenty to think about over the All-Star Break, and hopefully they come back with fresh legs and the hustle that's been missing the past few games.

Continue reading this post »

Slowly but surely, teams are figuring out that the Ottawa Senators aren't a squad to be taken lightly, and they're finding ways to shut the Sens down. The Los Angeles Kings found one effective way on Monday night: Get a hot goalie to stymie the Sens at every turn (and a referee to blow several blatant calls, mostly to the Kings' advantage).

L.A. scored late in the first when Willie Mitchell fired a seeing-eye shot through traffic and past Craig Anderson. Things really took off in the second, though, after Kyle Clifford scored to put the Kings up by two and Ottawa ran into some penalty troubles. Jack Johnson scored a powerplay marker, and just 93 seconds later, Trevor Lewis was awarded a (ridiculously bonus) penalty shot, and he made no mistake. The two quick goals extinguished just about any intensity the Senators had.

Daniel Alfredsson scored a powerplay goal in the third to spoil Jonathan Quick's shutout bid, but the Sens were well out of it by that point.

Sens Killers: Referees
Chris Phillips must have done something to get him on the refs' bad sides. First, he got his stick slashed and broken in half behind the Sens' net, and the Kings scored just minutes later--although, had the ref (Tim Peel, who was right freakin' there) called the blatant infraction, Ottawa would have been on the powerplay. Secondly, he was called for closing his hand on the puck, leading to Lewiss penalty-shot goal, despite the fact that (as the video showed... ) he barely even passed the puck to Anderson. Some weak reffing all-around, but it took its toll on Phillips the most.

Continue reading this post »