Ottawa Senators Season 2012-2013

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Not a real good game tonight. Goaltending was pretty bad, Anderson gave up 6 goals on 31 shots that really made it hard to compete. We also lost Daniel Alfredsson again but this time he is only going to miss 5 days or so with a quad strain.

Cory Conacher had a solid game tongiht with a couple of assists, though he is a guy that needs to pick things up. Marc Methot scored his first of the season and Daniel Alfredsson scored 2, his 10th and 11th.

After going on a real hot streak, the Spezza, Michalek and Latendresse line has really cooled off. Hopefully, they can get going again as the success of this team will live and die with them.

Some big games coming up too.

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A very good win over the Bruins tonight and the big line really came through. Spezza had 2 goals (11,12) and an assist, Michalek had a goal (8) and 2 assists amd Latendresse had a goal (12) and 3 assists for a line total of 10 points. Rookie Mark Stone scored the other, his 5th of the season on the power play to round out the scoring.

Robin Lehner replaced Anderson as he has not been on his game this last little bit and played very well. He made 37 of the 40 saves possible in this one to get the win.

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Well, the good news is that the team scored 5 goals tonight vs the hated Leafs. Conacher(5), Greening (8), Spezza (13), Turris (4) and LAtendresse (13) did the scoring.

The bad news? Anderson was brutal at best. He gave up 7 goals on just 23 shots and really stunk up the rink.

We took it to the leafs overall but the first period was not the best and the Leafs took advantage by scoring 4 goals.

***On a side note, I have played a bit with the icetimes and it is starting to show a little in the stats overall for the skilled lines but only in a short amount of games. I will keep looking into this. I have Gonchar on the top D pairing with Marc Methot and Gonchar with his PK and PP time, hit 25 minutes that game. Looking much more like real ice times except the 4th line guys. A work in progress.***

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The Senators pulled off a big win tonight vs the Red Wings in a very hard fought game at Scotiabank place in Ottawa, winning 2-1 in a shootout. Cory Conacher scored his 5th of the season for the only Ottawa goal in regulation and Eric Condra scored the only shootout goal to give the Sens the victory.

Robin Lehner was a star tonight even if he wasn't picked as one. He faced 31 shots from the Wings and stopped all but one of them and then continued to stop all 5 shots in the shootout.

The good news after tonights game is that Daniel Alfredsson will be back in the line up after missing a couple with a nagging injury. Erik Karlsson is also close to returning from injury, that would provide the Senators a huge boost.

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Well, we are getting pretty good at these 2-1 shootout games. 2nd game in a row we pulled out the same result, this time over the Buffalo Sabres in Buffalo. Colin Greening was the only Sen to beat Ryan Miller tonight scoring his 8th of the season. Conacher scored the shootout winner and Lehner again, stopped all of the shootout shots he faced to help the team with the win. Lehner faced 27 shots from the Sabres and again stopped all but 1 making a real push to become the starter for the rest of the season as Anderson has struggled a bit lately.

The Senators were very happy before the game started to announce that Karlsson has returned from his injury and suited up tonight for the game. A solid game overall, playing 21:48 and throwing 4 hits and blocking 4 shots.

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Another hard fought game vs a divisional opponent but this time, we didn't pick up the point. The Bruins downed the Senators 3-2 tonight but the Sens played a solid game matching the Bruins all over.

Colin Greening scored his 9th of the season and rookie Mark Stone scored his 5th and also added an assist. The line of Spezza, Michalek and Latendresse has struggled at times this season so Alfredsson was moved up to the top line to try and kickstart them again. We will keep an eye on this.

There was a couple of scraps in this one. Chris Neil squared off with Brad Marchand and Milan Michalek duked it out with Milan Lucic.

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Back to back losses to the Bruins hurts after we jumped them to take over 3rd spot in the standings. The bruins played well in both games and in this one, just outplayed us all the way. We could only muster 14 shots on Rask which is not enough to beat the top goalies or teams in this league.

Cory Conacher was injured tonight as well and will be out of action for close to a month with a leg injury. Zach Smith was the only Senator that was able to beat Rask, scoring his 2nd of the season. Anderson was very sharp in goal tonight, making 31 of 33 saves. Hope things start looking up soon, we need points and wins to get going again!

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I guess they got the message tonight. The Senators outplayed the Capitals from start to finish and picked up a victory, 2-1 in the Verizon Center. Peter Regin scored just his 3rd of the season and Kyle Turris, his 5th.

Lehner was back in goal and had a fairly easy night as only 1 got by him.

Eric Gryba went with Jason Chimera tonight and Gryba is playing fairly well in his rookie season. Doing everything needed seems like his motto as he really does do everything he can with the limited time he is given. With the amount of defencemen that the Senators had up, Andre Benoit was sent back to Bingo today to get in some games.

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Another big win over the Sabres tonight, 4-2 in Ottawa. The big line came out a little bit, Michalek and Latendresse, who was moved back with the top line scored tonight as Spezza added a couple of helpers.

Rookie Eric Gryba scored his first NHL goal tonight to start the scoring for the Senators. Michalek (9), Latendresse (14) and Chris Neil (6) scored the others for the win.

Lehner played again tonight making 28 saves for the win.

The race in the East is super tight and wins and losses each night flip teams around like crazy.

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Another good game for the Senators tonight vs the New Jersey Devils, shutting them out 3-0. Robin Lehner was very solid in goal making 33 saves for the shutout. Milan Michalek (10), Zach Smith (3) and Chris Neil (7) were the goal scorers tonight. Latendresse and Ryan Carter had a nice little fight in the 1st period tonight and Smith and Neil scored their goals only 6 seconds apart tonight in the 2nd period to sink the Devils.

There is rumours being reported by the Ottawa Sun that there is talks between the Blue Jackets and Senators over some moves but nothing substantial as of yet. Something to keep an eye on.

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Well, payback sucks. The Sabres spanked the Sens tonight 5-0 and they just beat us all over the ice. Not really too much to say about this one, EVERY player on the Senators tonight was a minus so it was at least spread around.

Just a bad game and we move on with a huge game coming up vs the Bruins again.

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The Bruins and the Sens have been meeting a lot lately and before the game tonight, Zdeno Chara was put on IR for around a month with a bad elbow so we caught a break there. The Bruins couldn't solve the Lehner riddle tonight as the young goaltender shut them out, 2-0. Michalek scored his 11th and Alfredsson with 12th tonight to propel the Sens over the Bruins.

There was some rumours out of Ottawa this week with the possibility of them picking up some scoring but a guy they were after, Alexander Steen, was shipped off to the Flyers as they looked for a bit of offensive help.

The Senators are still trying to make a move so we will keep an eye on that. Rumours still out there about the Jackets.

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Another win tonight, this time 2-1 over the Jets. Milan Michalek was hurt in practice before the game and will be out for a couple of weeks so there was a hole on the top line. Jakub Silvferberg played there tonight and scored though it was on the power play. Not sure if he will stay up there but this is the idea right now.

Lehner was solid again in net which seems to be the theme with the Senators. Silfverberg scored his 3rd and Mark Stone scored his 7th.

The win puts us in 3rd place in the conference again but things are so close that could change very quickly.

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Before the game, the Senators officials released a statement about Sergei Gonchar and his injury from the last game. He will miss a couple of weeks but should be good to go after that. Missing him in the line up vs the top team in the NHL tonight but the Senators were able to pull of a nice win. Spezza (14), Cowen (1) and Kyle Turris (6) scored for the Senators and Craig Anderson held the fort with a 29 save performance.

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From first to worst and the result, not too good although we lost in overtime so we gained a much needed point. The Capitals come into the game with the worst record in the NHL but played well enough to give us all kinds of trouble.

For a 2nd game in a row, Anderson played while Lehner was scheduled so not sure what is happening but he stunk tonight. Zach Smith scored his 4th, Spezza with his 15th and Silfverberg with his 3rd tonight.

Not really sure why the game is forcing Anderson to play but I am trying to deal him and maybe putting him on the trade forces him to play for some weird bug. I will have to see I guess.

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A rematch with the Capitals but this time, we came out with a 2-1 win. Letendresse (16) and Mark Stone (8) were the goalscorers tonight and Robin Lehner made his return to the crease with a very solid performance.

Anderson is still on the block and involved in a possible trade but the other one was rejected and Lehner started playing again. Not sure why or what even happened but at least he is back in the goal!

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Good win tonight as the Senators beat the Oilers 3-0 with Robin Lehner picking up the shutout. He made 20 saves for it and Turris (7), Stone (9) and Condra (3) did the scoring.

The Senators have been scoring more on the power play that Karlsson and Gonchar are working the points.

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A huge win for the Senators tonight trying to show the league that they can run with the big boys. We pulled out a 4-2 win over the Penguins and all 6 goals were scored in the first period.

Alfredsson (13), Spezza (16), Turris (8) and Stone (10) scored for the Senators and Eric Gryba provided some energy with a fight against Brenden Morrow.

This team finds ways to just keep winning and Robin Lehner is a key part of that. This team doesn't give up a lot of goals so it's easier to win that way!

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Big Game vs the Habs but unfortunately, it didn't go our way tonight. The habs and Senators played a great game but the habs were bale to get the best of the young club pulling off a 5-4 win.

Colin Greening (11), Alfredsson (14), Latendresse (17) and MArk Stone (11) had the goals tonightbut Anderson had another off night tonight giving up the 5 goals on 35 shots. Not sure what has happened to the goaltender lately but Lehner is playing much better and will be the starting goalie from here on out. Lehner has been amazing this season and after Anderson was playing so well at the beginning of the season, has faltered and lot a few games we should have won.

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Another game vs the top dogs in the East, another win. This one was pretty impressive for the club, a 3-0 shutout over the highest scoring team in the NHL. Milan Michalek and Cory Conacher both came back from their injuries tonight and helped provide a boost for the team.

Michalek scored his 12th of the season, Spezza scored his 17th and Zach Smith added his 5th for the win. Lehner was solid again tonight making 17 saves for the shutout.

The win vs the Hurricanes moves us into 2nd place in the conference, just behind the Hurricanes for 1st.