The game that nearly didn' t happen turned out to be a great one for the Sens. After a hard fought first period - where the Sens were trying to find their rhythm - a a single goal lead, the hometown boys took the bit and ruled the ice until the final buzzer. Not to say that the Senators were dominant on the offensive. No, rather they were a complete team, working hard at both ends of the ice, and benefitting from stellar goaltending from first-timer Mike Brodeur.



The Sens were firing on all cylinders, with three lines participating in the scoring. One player that has surprised the living bejeezus out of me recently is Jonathan Cheechoo. His work ethic is solid: he checks he passes he shoots, he tries every shift, all the time. His work was directly responsible for the Senators third goal by Jarkko Ruutu. Ruutu is also impressive for a third liner, and contributes every shift as well. Back to Cheechoo: he had to step in for the injured (and ACL-less) Shean Donovan, and had little problem stepping into the line and fitting right in with their hard-forechecking style of play.

Another amazing transformation is the play of Alex Kovalev who really looks like he cares, and shows off some of his unique stuff almost every night. Overall, the confidence level was high. The Senators have also fine-tuned their passing and it has helped them tremendously.

The only thing still suffering is the power play. The Senators are now 0 for 10 in their last two games. At least two of those power plays should have connected to bring the Senators to a par with the NHL average. More work required there... but I'm really nitpicking here.