Ups and Downs: Week 6

On the one hand, the Sens had a decent week, going 1-1-1 against some pretty good opponents in the Predators, Canucks, and Rangers. On the other hand, they were outshot in each of those games. However, the Senators also seemed to improve as the week went on, going from a terrible game vs. Nashville, to having a good third period to preserve the lead against Vancouver, to holding their own against New York.

Biggest Ups: Chris Wideman

Wideman got into the game against Vancouver and scored his second goal in as many games. It earned him 17:30 minutes against the Rangers, including significant time on the powerplay and during the 3-on-3 OT. It looks like Cameron is coming around to keeping him in the lineup more. Also, for the first time on the season, a defenceman was scratched in favour of putting him in the lineup. Now there's precedent it could happen again.

Biggest Downs: Jared Cowen

Cowen had a pretty miserable week, putting up lousy numbers whether he was paired with Ceci or Borowiecki. Then the Sens played their best game in a long time with him out with "injury". I could see him spending time as a healthy scratch soon.

Goaltenders	Trend	Notes
Craig Anderson		Stinker against the Preds, solid recovery against the Rangers.
Andrew Hammond		Another great game against the 'Nucks. He now has a .930 save percentage on the season, and still has only one regulation loss in his career.
Defensemen
Mark Borowiecki		That Borowiecki-Wideman duo was actually great possession-wise against the Rangers. Is it possible he's serviceable?
Cody Ceci		Ottawa's worst defenceman in terms of even-strength Corsi in 3/3 games this week
Jared Cowen		See Biggest Losses
Erik Karlsson		Three goals and two assists on the week, not to mention he was Ottawa's best player in the two most recent games
Marc Methot		Does his thing and puts up good stats. Exactly what we want of him.
Chris Phillips		Hi Chris!
Chris Wideman		See Biggest Gains
Patrick Wiercioch		A bad game against Nashville got him scratched against Vancouver. Looks like he may have to earn back trust again.
Forwards
Alex Chiasson		I'm actually really liking Chiasson's game these days, which is a nice change from not noticing him at all.
Mike Hoffman		His post hits outnumber his goals this season about 4:1
Curtis Lazar		Being moved to the fourth line isn't great for Lazar, though it is a fair reflection of the offensive talent the rest of the team has
Clarke MacArthur		At this point, I'm starting to hope MacA will be able to live a normal life, forget about the rest of his hockey career
Milan Michalek		Ottawa's third line is shaping up nicely
Chris Neil		He actually seems to have some decent chemistry with Lazar
Jean-Gabriel Pageau		Pageau is still an excellent third-line centre. His week was just average though
Shane Prince		I think Prince looked really good on the second line, but Cameron didn't agree and scratched him in favour of Matt Puempel
Matt Puempel		Puempel was a terrible possession player this week. He's a pure sniper, and doesn't belong on a line with another pure sniper in Bobby Ryan
Bobby Ryan		Four more points (+ a shootout goal) for the resurgent Ryan
Zack Smith		What an up-and-down week. Two goals against the Predators, dumb selfish penalties against the Rangers.
Mark Stone		Somehow only had one point on the week, though he had what felt like 50 takeaways
Kyle Turris		Only one assist for Turris too, though his line is consistently Ottawa's best possession line. He should be putting himself into the Team Canada discussion for the World Cup of Hockey, but won't because Canada is stacked at centre.
Mika Zibanejad		Z-bad had three assists in three games and could have had more. People are decrying his lack of offensive skill, but he's on pace for 63 points right now.

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