Senators Ups and Downs: Week 13

The Ottawa Senators faced a schedule this week in which it was expected they'd land zero of six points. Instead, they bagged four. A shutout victory over a depleted Penguins team and a nail-biting 4-3 win over the Bruins bookended a shutout loss to that same Bruins team. The team's inconsistency woes continue, but two wins out of three keeps them in the playoff hunt, and that pace should be good enough to get them into the playoffs. Wins against skilled teams demonstrate what the Senators can be, but the question for this team all year has been whether they can string it together. They came closer this week, and that's a good sign.

Biggest gains: Z. Smith

Z. Smith had a goal in both Senators wins this week. Coincidence? Staff scientists say no. Z. Smith opened the scoring against the Pittsburgh Penguins by burying a rebound early to help the team set the tone, and against the Boston Bruins, scored a crucial shorthanded goal that put the team up 3-1. Of course, he also took a very late penalty in that game, which put the final outcome in doubt as the team closed out the game facing a 6-on-4 power play. That's been kind of a pattern very recently, as his goal last week's game came directly via his exit from the penalty box. He's a hard-nosed player and that means penalties are inevitable, but anytime he can contribute secondary scoring, it's not unsurprising that the team is able to win.

Biggest losses:Joe Corvo

Our Corvo hate train plows forward. The defenseman was scratched for most of the week and drew back into the lineup with Phillips injured and Gryba not making an impact. The result? TWO holding penalties! One of those penalties resulted in Z. Smith's goal, so that's good, but we doubt that's how it got drawn up on the whiteboard. Corvo had a strong stretch of play a while back, but that's faded for the Corvo more familiar to Senators fans. And, yeah, it's unfair to target one guy when the entire defense is struggling. It's as true for Corvo as it was for Cowen. We've never cared for the "Uh Oh Corvo" nickname or reputation, but he had a tough game in his one shot at getting back in the lineup. We'd rather see Phillips or Gryba play, but we suspect this game will be enough to make Darren Dreger's predictions about the team trading for Michael Del Zotto come to fruition.

Goaltenders	Trend	Notes
Craig Anderson		Delivered a strong game in shutting out the Penguins, and played well enough to beat the Bruins.
Robin Lehner		Lehner got lit up for five goals yet again, but we have a hard time laying the blame at his feet.
Defensemen
Cody Ceci		Ceci was a factor in both wins, totalling three assists. He's playing too well to be sent down.
Joe Corvo		See "Biggest losses."
Jared Cowen		Still looks steady alongside Karlsson. It would be great if he could salvage his season that way.
Eric Gryba		Apparently his play in a 5-0 loss to the Boston Bruins was lacking enough that he was scratched for Corvo. We don't know how to feel about that.
Erik Karlsson		Three point game against Pittsburgh overshadows his other mistakes.
Marc Methot		Cooled off a bit from last week, but still continues to play more like the guy we saw last year.
Chris Phillips		Eh.
Patrick Wiercioch		Scoring a goal is a good way to stay in the lineup after being scratched. Corvo should have done that.
Forwards
Cory Conacher		Now back on a hot streak. 3P (2G, 1A) in 3 games.
Erik Condra		Pretty standard Condra, but his PK skills set up Z. Smith's shorty.
Colin Greening		He's been harder to knock off the puck recently. Now he just needs to get to the front of the net to make that skill pay off.
Matt Kassian		We all know what we're getting here.
Clarke MacArthur		He had two assists against Pittsburgh, but was quiet in both games against Boston.
Milan Michalek		Didn't manage any offense this week.
Chris Neil		We're less impressed with the fighting. But apparently Neil is the one who challenged his teammates to play better against Boston? And he didn't do it with his fists!
Jean-Gabriel Pageau		We can't get that turnover out of our heads. You know the one we mean.
Bobby Ryan		Two more goals, including a huge game-winner, this week.
Z. Smith		See "Biggest gains."
Jason Spezza		Out with a lower-body injury. Didn't have many points before that.
Kyle Turris		Another goal and another assist. Decent week for T.
Mika Zibanejad		Very happy to see him play well in Spezza's place. Bodes well for the future.

Special thanks to our friend winterion at Japer's Rink for our icons!