After the longest home stand in the league, the Sens are getting ready for a road trip of five games. With a record of 6-11-1 on the road, the surging Montreal Canadiens, playoff line within site in the standing, the Senators need to find a way to win three ofthose five games in order to stay in contention.



With the injury list getting longer and longer, and goaltending weak of the last few games, the Sens have their work cut out. Added to Daniel Alfredsson, Jason Spezza, Milan Michalek were Jesse Winchester and Filip Kuba.

The departure of Winchester and Kuba could be disastrous for the Sens . Winchester's injury in particular looked much worse than a sprain as his knee literally looked to crumple under him. Kuba's could be just a sprain, but if there's any bone damage, he's out for a while too. With the arrival of Martin St-Pierre and Zach Smith, the lines have gotten shuffled and the new blood can be felt on the ice with the 4th line losing some of its prior potency.

Cory Clouston now has some tough decisions to make. Does he hit the road with a bare minimum roster by throwing in Shean Donovan and Alexandre Picard, or does he leave himself some room by making more phone calls to Binghamton? I wouldn't be surprised to see at least one more defensive and one more offensive call-up.

The first game against the Canes is a must-win to have any chance to pull off the three-win trip. The Canes may be last, but the Sens will have lines shuffled, and are likely starting to worry about goaltending a bit, as their offensive game has dropped off and their defensive tempo increased. They  must then take the game against the slumping Thrashers. The remaining three teams (the Rangers, Canadiens, and Bruins) Are likely to be tough games against surging teams.