Senators lose third-straight, 4–2 to the lowly Blue Jackets

The return of Thomas Chabot helped the Sens look better, but it wasn't enough. Korpisalo finished with an .826 save percentage, the PK went 0-for-2, and the Senators lost to the worst team in the East in terms of points percentage.

This one started off with a bit of a hope. The Sens got on the board first thanks to Claude Giroux's gorgeous, gorgeous hands.

That was followed up with the Sens' powerplay breaking out of a slump.

Could the Sens be... getting better? But alas, it was not to be. They first allowed a powerplay goal from Patrik Laine, and then not even a minute later allowed an alleged real NHL player named Dmitri Voronkov to tie things up. It felt typical, that after the Sens allowed a goal, their confidence shattered and they gave up another one right after.

The second saw the Sens come out strong but fail to score, and that felt ominous. Sure enough, an Adam Fantilli tip thanks to lost coverage, and then yet another powerplay goal allowed, because the penalty kill just looks lost out there. In a season full of hellish second periods, this was yet another one, in which the Jackets scored 2 on 5 shots, and the Sens scored 0 on 11.

The third period again started off well with the Sens getting a few shots, helped in particular by another powerplay. And then, for nearly 10 minutes of the third, the Sens either failed to get the puck back from the Jackets, or else got their wires crossed and found themselves having to choke up to prevent a delayed offside. Usually, outshooting a team 43–23 is enough to win a game, but your Ottawa Senators aren't usual. They lost, and while there were a lot more positives than Monday, it's hard to feel like it.

My thoughts:

• This team's PK went 0-for-2. At the start of the year, penalty-killing was a strength. Suddenly, they're 26th in the league at 74.6%. The PP is also suffering, now down to 20th at 18.9%. I saw a (valid) complaint along the lines of, "When Erik Gudbranson is single-handedly shutting down your powerplay, it's time to change it up."
• Chabot looked energized, logging a game-high 26:41. He was credited with 3 shots on goal, but it could easily have been more. He was pushing to will the team back into this one. He's undoubtedly a leader in the same style as Brady Tkachuk, who tries to put the team on his back.
• Tarasenko finished with 5 shots on goal, which is what happens when you put a skilled player with skilled players (no offence to Rourke Chartier). I want to see Tarasenko stay with Stützle or Norris. We can give him Greig or Pinto when they come back, but he's wasted on a third line with whoever from the AHL.
• It's hard to win when your goalie puts up an .826. I'm not faulting Korpisalo on every goal, but, right now, the Sens goalies are 40th (Korpi) and 75th (Forsberg) out of 76 goalies to play this season in save percentage, with .902 and .850, respectively.
• This team is fragile. When they start to doubt, they collapse. When they feel they're falling apart in their own zone, they lose all structure. When they're scored on, they allow another high-danger scoring chance. It's not fun to watch. You can see it on all of them. They expect to lose.
• DJ also isn't in great company:

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