Ottawa Senators Ups and Downs: Week 5

Biggest Gains: The Goalies

It seems like we say this every year since Craig Anderson has been an Ottawa Senator (except for the 2013-14 season, we won't mention that one). It has been no difference this season. After Anderson put up two enormous performances against Winnipeg and Montreal, Andrew Hammond was looking like the Hamburglar from last season's push for the postseason. They were the two biggest reasons the Senators had success in Week 5.

Biggest Losses: Zack Smith

Last week, Zack Smith became the first healthy scratch of returning full-time players from last season. Though the 27-year-old centre has found the back of the net a couple times this season, his penalty troubles have been a major problem. Smith had taken too many minor penalties in costly situations - two of them lead to two 5-on-3's in Detroit less than two weeks ago - and Dave Cameron made it clear that Smith's absence on Saturday in Carolina was a coaching decison.

Goaltenders	Trend	Notes
Craig Anderson		See biggest gains.
Andrew Hammond		See biggest gains.
Defensemen
Mark Boroweicki		Borowiecki needs to be more focused on positioning, less determined to throw his body at anything that moves. Last week we saw that even more than normal, which lead to some bad goals.
Erik Karlsson		The captain hasn't exactly looked like himself lately, but this week we saw a good deal of progress being made. Karlsson's taking care of his own end a lot better, but maybe not good enough to get a green arrow.
Marc Methot		It's great to have Methot back in the lineup. If there's any player that ties this team together, it has to be him.
Jared Cowen		Judging by his lack of play in the final five minutes of the game on Saturday - and by the presence of Borowiecki and Wideman in those five minutes - when Cody Ceci gets back, we might see Cowen in the press box.
Chris Wideman		Scored his first career NHL goal and that might be the event that gets him a couple guaranteed games in the lineup. Or it might not. It probably won't.
Patrick Wiercioch		Wiercioch had a great game in Carolina on Saturday - he had a fantastic assists on Alex Chiasson's power play goal - but he's been too average to earn any praise. Hopefully he can return to defenseman we all bragged about last year.
Cody Ceci		Injured.
Chris Phillips		Injured.
Forwards
Clarke MacArthur		Injured.
Kyle Turris		Turris continues to dominate play with whoever he's played with. Even with Stone away the first line looked powerful.
Shane Prince		Prince has earned top six minutes, though injuries and suspensions have aided, and he's looked the part every single shift.
Mark Stone		Stone had to serve two games for his hit on Landon Ferraro, but when he came back on Saturday, boy was it ever noticeable. It's more than pleasant to have him back.
Bobby Ryan		With seven points in seven games, Ryan seems to have found something that was missing since January.
Milan Michalek		I'll be honest, some nights I forget that Michalek is an Ottawa Senator. But seldom do I forget the $4 million that he's paid.
Alex Chiasson		Chiasson scored on Saturday. Something that hasn't happened very often. Maybe he can get going soon.
Jean-Gabriel Pageau		Pageau has been more than a serviceable, possession driving third line centre. His second shorthanded goal of the season against Montreal on Tuesday certainly helped the notorious Hab killer gain a green arrow.
Curtis Lazar		Lazar was miscast a couple times as a replacement for Mike Hoffman and Mark Stone on the first line, and that's not his fault, but he wasn't enough to make an impact.
Chris Neil		Smith may have been the healthy scratch on Saturday, but Neil might be next.
Zack Smith		See biggest losses.
Matt Puempel		Puempel was playing well enough to beat Smith out of the lineup. That's up-worthy.
Mika Zibanejad		Zibanejad has been playing well as of late. It might not be showing on the scoreboard, but him, Ryan and Prince/Puempel have been pushing the pace of play and creating a lot of scoring chances.
Mike Hoffman		One of three point-per-game Senators, it was more than helpful gaining Hoffman back from injury. His first game back, he set up Turris for the OT winner in Montreal.