(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...)

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

What goes up must come down. The Senators, who had been winning dangerously for so much of the month of January, have watched much of the luck that buoyed them to those wins evaporate. Not coincidentally, their playoff cushion has evaporated along with that luck: out of a possible six points this week, the team earned one.

The week started out promisingly, with the Senators giving the Bruins all they could handle, jumping out to a 3-1 lead before eventually losing 4-3. There was plenty of positive momentum to carry into a game against the surging New York Islanders, but the team came out flat and wound up sucking on a 2-1 OT loss despite scoring the first goal for the first time in eight games. Unfortunately, that was the momentum they carried into the next night's game against the Toronto Maple Leafs. The result was a 5-0 hammering that should have left a bad taste at every level of the organization, from the owner on down to the fans. Things don't get any easier this week: first on tap are the red-hot St. Louis Blues and Nashville Predators.

Biggest gains: Jim O'Brien
We really struggled with picking out a biggest gainer this week, which says a great deal about the players' performance as a whole. But hey, as a callup he made it onto the top line--and not out of mercy, but due to the fact that he was one of the best players on the ice. So, there's that.

Biggest losses: Jared Cowen
Cowen had what can only be described as a rookie week against all three opponents. Against the Islanders, he was responsible for both goals, as he inexplicably left his position to help his partner, Gonchar, and the goal-scorer filled the spot Cowen left vacant. He exhibited similar poor decision-making against Toronto, getting caught flat-footed more than once. This obviously means he is a mega-bust, and will never develop into a top pairing player.

(read on for the full rundown....)

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(Ups and downs is a feature that recaps the individual performances of the Ottawa Senators for the last week.)


On their long road trip, the Senators' tendency to live dangerously and spot their opponents leads has started to catch up with them, as we knew it would inevitably have to. Ottawa gave up the first goal in every game they played this week, which is not generally a recipe for success. Before heading out, the team turned in a 2-0 dud at home, losing to Winnipeg, and then came back from a 2-0 deficit the next night to beat Toronto, 3-2. They followed that up with a 4-1 win over San Jose and closed out the week with a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Anaheim. Capturing 4 of 8 points on the week is nice, but so is playing with a lead. That needs to happen more if the Sens expect to make the playoffs and defeat any opponent they face.

Biggest gains: Craig Anderson
Anderson was the common thread across the games this week, as he was the driving factor in the wins--yet again keeping his teammates in games they should have lost, giving them a chance to turn the tide--and he was not at all culpable in the losses: his save percentage for the week was a sterling .950. Anderson is carrying the team through January.

Biggest losses: Bobby Butler
No points this week. No hits, no blocked shots, nada. Only four shots on goal. Is it Bulter's fault? No, not entirely, as his fourth line minutes make it hard to produce, but the bottom line is that his play opened a window for rookie Andre Petersson to play at least one game. Butler should rotate back in next game if Petersson's ice time is any indication, but getting scratched for a rookie when healthy is never a sign of confidence from a coach.

(read on for the complete rundown...)

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(Ups and downs is a feature that recaps the individual performances of the Ottawa Senators for the last week. Craig Anderson.)

Yeah, so... You know that whole "Fail for Nail" thing from the start of the season? The Senators are doing it wrong. Playing against two of the most talented teams in the Eastern conference and Montreal, they went 3-0-0 on the week, earning six of six possible points on the road and outscoring their opponents 11-3 during those three games.

Nail Yakupov? Don't need him. The Senators' 146 goals (including shootouts) so far has them tied for third in the NHL with Chicago. The only two teams with more? Vancouver and Boston -- last year's Cup Finalists. Fourth in the NHL? Philadelphia. So that gives us four Cup contenders and Ottawa. Hm. And the team is adding to this mix next year with Mika Zibanejad and Jakob Sifverberg, who has 30 points in 32 games in the SEL this year. You'll probably hear more about those guys in Bobby Kelly's excellent prospect roundup tomorrow. The bottom line: The Sens are proving they're legit, and there's two more top-six prospects ready to join the team next year.

Biggest Gains: Craig Anderson
Remember the Anderson from last year? He's back: 3-0-0 on the week, .970 save percentage, 1 shutout, stopped all three Montreal shooters in the shootout. He might be the hottest player in the NHL right now. No exaggeration.

Biggest losses: Bobby Butler
It was really difficult to pick a biggest loser this week, because the Senators won all their games--and they did it with a team effort across all four lines. So why does a guy who was plus-2 and had a goal in three games get named the biggest loser? Well, it's certainly not because of his play. Let's just say this is more of a reflection the unfairness of Butler's continued presence on the fourth line--he's earned an opportunity for a bigger role in our eyes, yet he hasn't seemed to have gotten it. That sucks.

(read on for the full rundown...)

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

The Ottawa Senators started the new year off right. Looking at the schedule, we all knew January was going to be a tough month with a first week that might have been the toughest stretch, but the Sens went on to put up a 3-0-1 record and earn seven of eight possible points against some tough competition in the New Jersey Devils (a 3-2 overtime win), the Tampa Bay Lightning (a 4-1 win), and the Philadelphia Flyers (a 3-2 overtime loss and a 6-4 win).

With that terrific week in the books, Ottawa's gone 7-1-2 in the last ten games, and as of Sunday night sit fifth in the Eastern Conference, well in playoff position--but with nine of the next ten games on the road. And it looks like many Senators won't even get the All-Star Break off, as they'll be playing in the game.

Biggest gains: Erik Karlsson
Karlsson had three two-point games in the week for six points in four games (1G, 5A), and was too much for the Flyers to handle in the two games against them. It's incredible to think that a 21-year-old defenceman is the lynch-pin of the Ottawa Senators offence, but Karlsson is. He has 41P in 43GP this season, tied for 14th in the NHL in overall scoring, tops among NHL defencemen, and a point off the team lead in scoring.

Biggest losses: Chris Phillips
Phillips' role on this team is declining as the Big Three--Karlsson, Filip Kuba, and Sergei Gonchar--really step up their game. Even Jared Cowen is regularly playing 5-10 minutes more than Phillips per game. The Sens' assistant captain looked slow and immotile against the Flyers in particular, especially the speedy Danny Briere. He was -3 in the games he played, and was on the ice for five of the nine goals against in those three games despite playing fairly minimal ice time.

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

And, we're back! We took Christmas off because we were lazy, but the Senators still played some games. This stretch will have a major impact on their playoff hopes, so in a sense, all their games this month are "must-wins."

So, how'd they do? All things considered, pretty well--they got four of six possible points. After getting hammered by Montreal, they responded by staging comeback wins against Calgary and Buffalo on back-to-back nights. It's nice to see that level of determination in such a young team.

Still, it wasn't all sunshine and rainbows: The team managed to lead their opponents for just 3:26 of 170 minutes played. In fact, you'd have to go all the way back to the first period of the game against the Florida Panthers (which also wound up going to overtime) more than a week ago to find any kind of sustained lead from the team.

It's great to know the Senators have it in them to gut out a win when they're losing. But are the kind of team that can get a lead consistently? 2012 will tell us one way or another.

Biggest gains: Daniel Alfredsson
Come on. Did you see the way he got his 400th goal? Laser slap shot one-timer in overtime for the game winner? Alfie is awesome. Enough said.

Biggest losses: Alex Auld
Coming to relieve Craig Anderson against Montreal last Monday, Auld allowed the goal that made it 5-1 Canadiens a little less than four minutes after he started playing. Coming in to relieve Auld against Thursday against Calgary, Anderson allowed no goals, and the Senators rallied to win the game in overtime. See how that works? We know that taking over in a 4-1 game is a tall order, but Auld did his teammates no favors this week. He was supposed to give Anderson a breather in advance of a crucial stretch of conference games and he couldn't even do that.

(read on for the complete rundown...)

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Ups and downs is a feature that looks at the individual performances of the Ottawa Senators' players for the past week.

It was a quiet week for the Ottawa Senators. Nothing really important happened, and they played a few games.

Wait, that's not right at all? You don't say!

In fact, the Senators made a huge trade, sending defenseman David Rundblad and a second round pick to Phoenix for forward Kyle Turris. You may have heard something about that.

The team also picked up four points in three games against some top NHL competition, notching wins against Buffalo and Pittsburgh and losing to the defending Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins, but mostly just to the original Sens Killer himself, Tim Thomas. The wins will go a long way towards building team confidence, and it's great to see the team beat quality opponents. That's a good sign for the future.

Biggest gains: Jared Cowen

He's been rising for a while now, but his five points in three games this week are better than Erik Karlsson. And Cowen is the defensive half of the pairing! The kid is playing a stupid amount of minutes each game and looking strong doing it. He's a rookie, so there are going to be stumbles along the way, but his emergence as a big-time defender is an incredibly bright spot for the future of this franchise.

Biggest losses: David Rundblad

Not much choice here. His hesitant play led to numerous turnovers and eventually limited ice time this week. With Fiilp Kuba and Sergei Gonchar out of the lineup, there was an opportunity for minutes to be earned for the young defenseman. But playing important minutes while learning a new style of hockey would be a challenge for any player, and Rundblad's struggles aren't a knock on his talent. Nevertheless, it was his inability to seize an opportunity that ultimately made him expendable in the team's eyes.

(read on for the full rundown...)

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Ups and downs is a feature that looks at the individual performances of the Ottawa Senators' players for the past week.

It was an ugly week for the Senators. A quality win over Tampa Bay was followed with three straight losses to Washington, New Jersey, and Vancouver. The first time the Sens played the Canucks this year, it was a 2-1 loss in a tightly-checked game. This time, it was a 4-1 drubbing in a chippy game.

Are the Senators regressing? Maybe. But it's important to remember that this is a young team and there are going to be some growing pains. The avalanche of red arrows we're about to see doesn't mean it's time to give up on anyone.

Except Spezza.

(Just kidding.)

Biggest gains: Nick Foligno

Foligno owned an impressive six-game point streak that was snapped in the loss to Vancouver. More importantly, he had been playing at an impressively physical level. That might have been taken too far in the loss to the Canucks, as Foligno delivered two different head shots. We don't believe either one was intentional, so we'd like to see the physicality continue, and we loved that he was man enough to answer the bell and defend himself after the second hit.

Biggest losses: Erik Karlsson

What a difference a week makes. Ottawa's best defenseman was anything but this week. Karlsson piled up bad passes and defensive mis-reads like he got points for them. Of course, that is not the case. Consider it a learning week for the young player, who learned the hard way that the same moves he used to contain Alex Ovechkin last week wouldn't work quite as well a second time.

(read on for the full rundown...)

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