Ups and Downs: Week 18

A look at how the players did as the Sens started their freefall out of playoff contention.

If management thought the Senators could still compete for a playoff spot, this past week has to have shown them that it's futile. The Sens lost all three games: 2-1 to the Devils, 2-1 to the Capitals, and 4-1 to the Blue Jackets, though that one was also 2-1 until the last two minutes. By Saturday night, the Sens were 14 points out of the final Wild Card spot (albeit with two games in hand).

Biggest Gains: Robin Lehner

In a week in which the Sens scored only three goals in three games, not very many people stood out positively. Lehner gets this award for putting up a .913 in three games. He got three starts this week, and showed management that he can at least be a starting goalie. That's a lot better than we could've said about his season a week ago.

Biggest Losses: Jean-Gabriel Pageau
He put up pretty poor possession numbers through two games, and then was almost a healthy scratch against the Jackets. I don't expect him to stay in this funk after the promise he's shown for most of the year, but it doesn't bode well that Cameron was willing to scratch him.

Goaltenders Trend Notes
Craig Anderson Get well soon!
Robin Lehner See Biggest Gains
Defensemen

Mark Borowiecki Played two games this week, and put up Corsi-for percentages above 60% in both of those games. Credit where credit is due.
Cody Ceci Victimized for a goal against the Jackets to sum up a week in which he was among the Sens' worst possession players.
Jared Cowen Had a better week than his partner, but not by much.
Eric Gryba Great game against the Jackets, poor game against the Caps (like most of the defencemen), and scratched against the Capitals. We'll call it a wash.
Erik Karlsson Held pointless this week, but was the Sens' best player most of the week. He looked like the only defenceman who bothered to show up against the Capitals.
Marc Methot He had an overall pretty good week, in no small part due to playing with Karlsson, but you can't fault him for not being as good as his partner.
Chris Phillips Only one game this week, but he gets a plus for setting a new franchise record for games played.
Patrick Wiercioch Only played one game, and was hardly noticeable. I'm expecting him more and more to get traded to a team that admires his stats.
Forwards

Alex Chiasson Only played one game this week, but was dependable on the ice. If he wasn't the supposed centrepiece of the Jason Spezza trade, he'd be definite trade bait.
Erik Condra Condra is praised for being one of Ottawa's top possession forwards - too bad he didn't achieve that at all this week.
Mike Hoffman Put up two points in a week where all Ottawa players combined put up seven points. When Hoffman's on the ice, the puck is rarely in Ottawa's zone.
Curtis Lazar Lazar in the top six has been a weird experiment, but he gets a plus for a great read to set up an ugly breakaway goal, his second goal of the year.
David Legwand Legwand's week was fine. I really don't know what else to say.
Clarke MacArthur The MacA-Zbad-Ryan line went frombeing the new hotness to being pretty terrible this week, all three being held pointless. Maybe we'll see 7-16 back together soon.
Milan Michalek Scratched against the Jackets, and nobody batted an eye.
Chris Neil He keeps playing, and plays with a lot of energy. If he decides he wants to be traded, someone is going to overpay for what he brings at his age.
Jean-Gabriel Pageau See Biggest Losses.
Bobby Ryan Just like MacArthur, Ryan had a forgettable week.
Zack Smith Are we ever going to hear an update on this guy?
Mark Stone He had a point this week, and looked pretty good. Probably could have got an up arrow, but I felt like I'd already given out too many for a pretty awful week for the team.
Kyle Turris I actually kind of liked the look of the 68-7-61 group. He scored a goal, and was the Sens' best possession player in two out of three games this week.
Mika Zibanejad I think it's only a matter of time until Cameron gives Turris his first-line centre job back, at least for a few games.

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


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