It took two Senators to come up big to get the win against the Pittsburgh Penguins and the NHL referees. I won't get started here on the referees because it's, once again, worth another blog entry.

Brian Elliott and Erik Karlsson were the architects of the win. Without them, the Senators would have floudered badly. Elliott positively robbed the Penguins on a few occasions and was stellar in his goaltending. Strong positioning, challenging outside the crease - but not too much - what a game for Elliott who almost ended Crosby's streak.

Strange to see the power behind Karlsson's shot. Sergei Gonchar was brought on board to supplement the back end of the Sens and lob bombs from the blue line. It seems as if Gonchar has lost the job.

There were downsides of course as Jason Spezza went down hard on a boarding by Chris Letang that didn;t even make the NHL highlight reels. Why? The NHL is wary of the violence now. You will note that the results of the Matt Carkner-Godard fight wasn't shown because the latter was severely pummeled. Same goes with the Sepzza hit. It's the equivalent of cutting all the violent jokes out of Bugs Bunny cartoons.

The other downside is that, once again, the Senators, sat back on their lead in the second, which is way too early to sit back. You can't give the Penguins time and space. Thankfully, Elliott was up to the task. Bring on the Canes.

GO SENS GO!!