In a way, the Senators were putting a nail in the coffin of the first half of the season. The effort was there, but the results seemed spookily pre-ordained.



The Senators did put up a heck of a fight, but played mostly a highly defensive and, let's face it, boring style of game. But nobody can fault the team for not playing hard and tight. They did their best. So did the Blackhawks. In the end, the Senators were found wanting in the shoot-out - that's the pre-ordained part.

Kudos to Brian Elliott who played a strong game, especially against Fernando Pisani whom he robbed noty once, but twice. Also to Daniel Alfredsson who seems to have regained some of his magic by scoring the first goal and participating in the second. This is the third game in a row that Alfie has picked up a point.

Once again Erik Karlsson was caught trying to do too much with too little against some stiff competition, and the team paid for it, even though Chris Phillips backpedaled beautifully to try and cover. The fourth line was beautiful to watch, spending a lot of time in the offensive zone.

The Senators crawled back home at 3:00 AM to face a really hot Tampa Bay team. The Sens will have to bring their A+ game.

GO SENS GO!!