Ups and Downs: Week 26

It was another week of mostly very good results that were marred by a loss to the Leafs in Toronto. The Senators prevailed in three of their four contests this week, including victories against the Detroit Red Wings, the Tampa Bay Lightning, and the Washington Capitals. The Maple Leafs were supposed to be the gimme game, even in spite of the fact that the Sens were playing on the second night of a back-to-back. Sadly, things rarely work out as we want them to when it comes to our neighbours down the 401. Still, the broader point remains: it was a very good week for the team and they have a fighting chance to reach the play-offs with one week remaining. Hold onto your butts, we're coming in hot.

Biggest gains: Mark Stone
Six points, a +3 if you care about such things, and the shootout winner against Detroit are the visible counting stats. He also combined with Kyle Turris and Clarke MacArthur to form by far and away the team's best line all week. Mark Stone was the team's best player these past four games, and it wasn't even especially close. Then you pause to remember that he's only 22, and it's all gravy.

Biggest losses: Craig Anderson

Outside of a few exceptional performances, most players played to expectations this week so the title falls to the goalie who didn't play at all this week. Dave Cameron's decided to ride Andrew Hammond come hell or high water, even to the point of not getting Anderson into the second game of a back-to-back when all the data suggests he should have given Hammond a rest against the Leafs. Ottawa doesn't play any more back-to-backs in their last three games so we might have seen the last of Andy for this season (or maybe even ever as an Ottawa Senator, but that's a column for a different time)

Goaltenders	Trend	Notes
Craig Anderson		See: Biggest Losses
Andrew Hammond		Another good week for Hammond; he was one of the only reasons the Senators were still in the game after the first period against Toronto
Robin Lehner		Still Hurt
Chris Driedger		Relegated to third goalie status with both Hammond and Anderson healthy.
Defensemen
Mark Borowiecki		Boro and Gryba both struggled quite a bit this week, especially against the team speed of the Tampa Bay Lightning and at times against the Maple Leafs.
Cody Ceci		No points, but rock steady play from the Wiercioch-Ceci duo contributed to Ceci leading all Senators this week w/ a sparkling 59.29 CF%.
Jared Cowen		Back to the pressbox for Cowen who never saw the ice this week.
Eric Gryba		An assist for Gryba in the Capitals game was one of his only postives this week; Gryba, like Borowiecki, struggled badly to move the puck against speedy forwards.
Erik Karlsson		Four points for Karlsson and sparkling possession numbers, yet again, but he struggled to contain Ovechkin and co. vs the Caps and had his ups and downs against Tampa Bay as well. From Karlsson, we can expect better.
Marc Methot		He did a lot of Marc Methot-like things this week. That's good enough for an up arrow.
Chris Phillips		???????
Patrick Wiercioch		Wiercioch rebounded from his healthy scratch against the Panthers with a great week of hockey capped by his game winning goal against Tampa Bay.
Forwards
Alex Chiasson		It says here that Alex Chiasson is not the answer to whatever problems exist on the Zibanejad line, but he did have a good week by his own standards.
Erik Condra		No points, some struggles for the Pageau line in general combine with a couple of dumb penalties to give Condra the down arrow this week.
Colin Greening		As long as everyone's healthy, it's hard to see Greening getting back into the line-up.
Mike Hoffman		If you were to take all of his perceived defensive shortcomings at face value, it'd be awfully hard to explain how Hoffman continues to drive possession on every line he ends up on. I can't give him an up arrow in good conscience when he's been relegated to the fourth line, but he played well this week.
Curtis Lazar		No points this week for Lazar, but he's continued his strong play on the forecheck and away from the puck.
David Legwand		A wholly unremarkable week for Legs.
Clarke MacArthur		Every game back he looks more and more comfortable. His behind the back, backhand pass to spring Stone for one of his goals against Washington was a great reminder of the skillset he brings to Ottawa's top six.
Milan Michalek		No timelines set yet for Michalek's return.
Chris Neil		It's starting to sound like Neil's ready to play; will the coach insert him in the line-up?
Jean-Gabriel Pageau		His line struggled a bit this week relative to their usual level. Pageau couldn't quite seem to shake free all week and he got a bit of a scare when Steven Stamkos caught him in a knee-on-knee collision. Fortunately, he seems to have suffered no ill effects from the hit.
Matt Puempel		Gone for the year.
Bobby Ryan		Just the one assist for Bobby Ryan this week, who's now in a bonafide slump. He looked like he was trying to do a lot against the Leafs in particular, but it just hasn't been working for him for a while now.
Zack Smith		Dave Cameron brought Zack Smith onto the Zibanejad line for much of this week and asked him to skate in "straight lines". Smith did as he was asked (though the effectiveness of what he was doing is up for debate)
Mark Stone		See: Biggest Gains
Kyle Turris		A marvelous week for Turris and his whole line. The possession numbers were weaker than normal, but it's hard to argue with five points in four games and an overtime game-winner.
Mika Zibanejad		Two points in four games for Zibanejad, who looked good-to-great at times but his line also went through long bouts of ineffectiveness.

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