Silver Nuggets: Karlsson breaks out; Senators/Lightning tonight; Peter goes on vacation

The Ottawa Senators won 2-1 against the Florida Panthers last night, their second in as many games, their third straight on the road and fifth in six road games. Erik Karlsson led the way with two goals and a career high ten shots. He has really been pouring it on offensively lately with 19 shots in his last three games. He also leads all Senator players in shots on goal for the season with 147. He also leads the Senators in assists and points, three ahead of Jason Spezza. Karlsson, Phillips and Kuba are no longer bottom three in the NHL in plus/minus as Tyler Bozak has now displaced Filip Kuba for third last! GO KUBA!

Craig Anderson was also solid, allowing one goal or less for the seventh time in nine starts. We actually managed to lose one of those seven games.

The Senators will play the Tampa Bay Lightning tonight in the first of three games against Tampa Bay in March.

In other news, we are going to be without our eternal leader, Peter Raaymakers for the next week as he heads to Cuba tomorrow. In his absence, Mark will likely attempt to convert this blog into a shrine to Mike Fisher. Ryan will then add witty comments in picture form to the shrine. Crooklyn will start rapping without a care and possibly bring in Pierre as a guest writer. What about me? I will start a campaign for Erik Karlsson as the Hart Trophy winner. In all this, Darren will continue to be the mature adult voice.

Here are today's links:

Last game

• Game recap. (Sun, Citizen)
• Stats from last night via NHL.com (Boxscore, Game Summary, Event Summary, Faceoff report, Play by play, Ice Time and Shifts, Shot report)
• Post game audio with Erik Karlsson. He labels the first goal as a 'crap' goal. (Ottawa Senators)
• Post game audio with Craig Anderson. (Ottawa Senators)
• Post game audio with Cory Clouston. He was told the referees felt Francis Lessard left his feet. (Ottawa Senators)

More after the jump.

Tonight's game

• Game preview. (NHL.com)
• Everyone predicts a loss tonight. We shall be Stamkosed tonight! (Sens Extra)
• Following on the loss theme, Curtis McElhinney will finally get his first start tonight. (Ian Mendes)/

General Sens News

• Craig Anderson's agent implies that his client will be more likely to re-sign with the Senators if Bryan Murray is kept around. Note, he did say that it was not an ultimatum. (Sun)
• Karlsson's ten shots on goal were only the second time a Senator defenceman has reached double figures. The other being Jason York with 12 in 1999. (Ottawa Senators)
• UPDATE: Senators sign college defenceman Mark Borowiecki to an entry level contract. (Ottawa Senators)/

General Hockey News

• The IIHF have confirmed that the 2014 Olympic Hockey tournament will be on the big ice. Woo! More room for Erik Karlsson and David Rundblad to skate Jason Spezza to skate! (IIHF)
• Henrik Sedin and Joe Thornton on the Chara incident. (Yahoo!)
• Meanwhile, the Montreal Canadiens have released a new logo. (Red Scarf Union)