Ottawa has reached the 40-game mark and it’s time to take stock and see how the team has performed.  The Sens went 4-6-0 (here’s the previous ten games) which puts them 6th in the conference and drops them to 4th in their division.  The team’s 99 goals is tied for twelfth in the conference while their 89 goals against remains second.  Ottawa’s powerplay fell to 16th overall (18.0%); and their penalty killing remains 2nd overall (88.1%).  The Sens dropped to the 4th most penalized team in the league; they also dropped to the 14th best team in terms of 5-on-5 goals for/against ratio (1.02).

Player’s stats (INJ=games missed due to injury, SCR= scratched, SUS=suspended, AHL=games in the AHL):

Mika Zibanejad 10-0-9-9 +3 TOI 13:28
Jakob Silfverberg 10-1-5-6 -1 TOI 16:19
Marc Methot 10-1-5-6 +6 TOI 22:28
Colin Greening 10-4-1-5 +3 TOI 14:38
Kyle Turris 10-0-5-5 -1 TOI 19:40
Daniel Alfredsson 10-4-0-4 -3 TOI 19:21
Cory Conacher 10-3-1-4 +1 TOI 14:25
Guillaume Latendresse 10-3-0-3 -5 TOI 15:33
Eric Gryba 10-2-1-3 +5 TOI 21:18
Patrick Wiercioch 10-0-3-3 Even TOI 15:40
Chris Neil 10-0-3-3 +1 TOI 14:18
Andre Benoit 7-2-0-2 -4 TOI 16:21 SCR 3
Zack Smith 10-1-1-2 -2 TOI 15:27
Chris Phillips 10-1-1-2 -8 TOI 21:24
Sergei Gonchar 10-0-2-2 -5 TOI 24:05
Jean Gabriel-Pageau 1-0-1-1 +1 TOI 11:17 [AHL 8-0-2-2]
Mike Lundin 4-0-1-1 -1 TOI 15:30 SCR 6
Erik Condra 10-0-1-1 -1 TOI 13:20
Jim O’Brien 3-0-0-0 -1 TOI 11:25 SCR 3 INJ 4
Mike Hoffman 3-0-0-0 -1 TOI 12:19 [AHL 3-1-3-4] INJ 4
Peter Regin 6-0-0-0 -2 TOI 11:31 SCR 4
Matt Kassian 10-0-0-0 -1 TOI 5:56
Jason Spezza (injured)
Erik Karlsson (injured)
Milan Michalek (injured)
Jared Cowen (injured)

Robin Lehner 2-3-0 2.22 .936
Craig Anderson 0-2-0 1.62 .946
Ben Bishop 2-1-0 2.56 .923

The Sens suffered through their longest losing streak of the season and continue to struggle to put the puck in the net.  It was an awful patch for Chris Phillips who easily led the team as a minus.  On the positive side Marc Methot was a monster offensively and defensively, while the Swedish rookies (Zibanejad and Silfverberg) lead the way offensively.  Turris continues to struggle with scoring droughts, while Gryba seems to have turned the corner in adjusting to the NHL.  Hoffman was solid in his call-up, as was his subsequent replacement Pageau.  Both O’Brien and Regin struggled while Kassian remains inexplicably in the lineup; I’m still waiting for Conacher to break out.  On the whole, given the injury situation the losing streak is something fans should have expected at some point this season and hopefully this will be the only one.  The struggles on the road ought to ring warning bells for anyone who expects Ottawa to make a run in the playoffs.

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)

April 12, 2013
Categories: Binghamton Senators, Ottawa Senators . . Author: Eye on the Sens . Comments: 2 Comments

-The Sens broke their losing streak last night, defeating the Flyers 3-1; Robin Lehner made 24 saves for the win, while Zack Smith (mini-breakaway), Colin Greening (mini-breakaway), and Daniel Alfredsson (empty-netter) scored the goals.  Jean-Gabriel Pageau earned his an assist in his first NHL goal (on Alfie‘s goal), every player’s TOI was in double digits, and Ottawa avoided a third period collapse.  Here’s the boxscore.  Ryan Classic breaks out some Corsi and Fenwick stats for his heroes of the night.

-Ottawa faces New Jersey (15-15-10) tonight; the Devils are lead by Patrik Elias (31 points) and backstopped by Martin Brodeur (10-6-7 2.31 .902).  Milan Michalek will play (no word who will sit, although hopes that it will be Matt Kassian seem forlorn; Nichols speculates it will be Guillaume Latendresse).

-Binghamton plays Albany (29-28-13) tonight; the Devils are lead by Joe Whitney (49 points) and backstopped by Keith Kinkaid (20-16-6 2.69 .906).

-While I think I Tweeted it at the time, I forgot to mention that Mark Borowiecki was named captain of the Binghamton Senators.  Borowiecki talked about the honour:

I was really grateful. It’s a huge honor. Only 60 guys in the NHL and AHL get to wear a C, so it’s pretty special and a big responsibility… I need to make the most of it. I just got to be myself. I think it’s my work ethic that got me there so I’m not going to change anything here. You don’t want to let it go to your head or anything. Obviously I got to step up a little bit more and get my game up to the next level.

There’s no doubt that Borowiecki is right that it’s his work ethic and dedication that are being rewarded.

-Elmira lost game three against Florida in their first round series; Louie Caporusso picked up an assist.

-A bit off topic, but Mark Spector writes a rant ostensibly about Edmonton Oilers management’s failure to surround its young talent with quality veterans (true), but it’s really just a long diatribe on Ales Hemsky.  I’m not going to say whether or not Hemsky is having a good year, but as by far the most productive veteran on the team he’s a very odd player to pick on.  When it comes to Spector, I always have to reference his bumbling lockout piece.  Sometimes when I come across these things I have to assume the journalist just wants more hits on his articles by being controversial.

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)

April 12, 2013
Categories: Binghamton Senators, Ottawa Senators . . Author: Eye on the Sens . Comments: Leave a comment