The title should not have question marks after it. As a matter of fact, if eveything was right with the world, and the planets were aligned properly, and the stars were in Aquarius, this titlwe would have been used at least five times this season. It's regrattably a first, but at least I've gotten to use it. Hopefully I can use it many more time.

Strangely, Alex Kovalev, who registered a hat trick, was a presence both offensively and defensively, who dove for the puck to keep it onside on the power play, and mixed it up intelligently, didn't look excited at his accomplishments. Nary a smile, nary a reaction. It may be that Kovie is having second thoughts about his move to Ottawa, but decided that he had to make do with his situation. I dearly hope not...

Jason Spezza had his best game yet. He acted like a scorer, and did score an a patented behind-thegoal, rebound-on-the-goalie goal. He took six shots on net, the most of any Senator, and his playmaking was more invetive than it has been in a long while. Not only that, but he saved the tying goal from going in, reaching for the puck behind Brian Elliott and tucking it firmly under the goalie. Another bright light was Nick Foligno, who registered two assists in the game and forechecked hard, and won pucks.

What clicked more than anything else was the offense of the Sens with 39 shots on net against Carolina's 25. Even then, the numbers don't do the game justice. All the lines were attacking, and attacking hard, the D pitching in with the offense. This is both good and bad: good because there will be many more scoring chances this way, bad because the D can get side-stepped and get caught in a foot race the other way. The latter happened a few times last night.

A duller light was the play of Filip Kuba. Despite completing his 200th assist, Kuba's play was lukewarm at best, with bad passes, and shots way off target from the point. Kuba had had a hot sctreak a little while ago, but has fallen into a slump of late.

But a win is a win, and I'd rather see that type of offensive behaviour, rather than a defensive posture. I've always said - and will repeat again - the Senators are front-loaded and win on the offensive, not because of impeccable defensive play. If they can get through the opposing blueliners and score in all kinds of situations, then they will go far. Meanwhile, I have no gripes about their defensive play last night as they were usually fast on the puck in the defensive zone and made it hard for the Canes to set up.

I asked myself if the results last night would have been the same against a more powerful team, say the Sharks or the Caps, and the answer has to be no. There are things that need to be tweaked before we get to that level. Alexandre Picard 's positioning has to improve dramatically, Spezza's blind passes have to connect, Elliott still has to challenge a bit more, etc., etc.

Was it a good game for the Sens? Yes it was, they are almost at the level we would like them to be come January for the play to the finish line.