No originality. None whatsoever. As long as the Senators keep the streak alive, the titles of these blog entries are going to be the number of wins in a row. I hope it's not a jinx or anything...



Boy was the rust showing in the first period. I was literally holding on to my seat are the Sabres danced in the Senators' zone and had their way with the defense. Ugly, ugly period and it's a bloody miracle the period ended scoreless. I have a confession to make at this point: I am a note taker. During games, I take notes because my memory resembles one of those strainers that you use to drain pasta. In my notes, under "1st period", there are only plusses beside Brian Elliott. That kid was great and kept the Sens in the game. The rest are a bunch of minuses.

That's when coach Cory Clouston started performing little miracles and swapped his lines so much that I totally lost track. I think he would have played a baloney sandwich if he'd had one available. But kudos to the man behind the bench, he got 'er done. The talking to and dressing down the Sens must have gotten in the intermission showed in the second when it was the Sabres' turn to spend time in their zone as the Senators poured it on. The big names started coming through for the Sens: Milan Michalek with a nice break where he hit the post, Alex Kovalev alone in front of Sabres goalie Ryan Miller and stonewalled, finally Jason Spezza sent a puck through that had a laser guidance package attached to it.

More of the same in the third period, but a more even match as far as chances go. At one point, I thought I was watchign a tennis match as the play kept going back and forth between the two defensive zones. In the end, the big names came through again with Spezza potting a second seeing-eye shot and Daniel Alfredsson  scoring two of his own. But it was the remarkable offensive play of Erik Karlsson that allowed the Senators to take the lead again and never look back. The kid impresses more and more each day.

The Sens next face the Canucks in Ottawa, and I like the back-to-back games which should allow the Ottawa boys to get back into the winning mode they displayed prior to their 4-day break. When you're hot, you want to stay on a roll.