Even if the Senators hadn't completed the comeback from a 2-0 deficit against the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday night, almost to a fan Sens Army would have been satisfied with the result their club put forth.
After the ridiculously inconsistent game on Monday in Detroit, it was an entirely different team that took to the ice against the Blues, and for probably the first time this season the Senators played a game where they didn't have any major gaffes or prolonged stretches of beign hemmed into their own end and on their heels.
The fact that the Sens were able to come back and leave with not just 1 but two points is icing on the cake, and something the club can build on.
Here are some random thoughts on the game:
* It wasn't a strong night for the boys in stripes, as they were at the centre of a number of controversies, including calling back 2 Ottawa goals. Both were questionable at best, but better positioning on the Erik Condra one that trickled through Brian Elliott and was sitting behind him should have absolutely counted.
* St. Louis seems to take their strategy from the old Chris Pronger handbook of "they can't call them all" because they have assembled a chippy, often dirty team that continuously jabs at their opponents and will risk the odd penalty to do so. The fact that they had 6 power plays to Ottawa's 3 further illustrates the off night the referees had. Guys like Steve Ott and Maxim Lapierre have made a living playing like that, and David Backes is another guy who likes to push buttons.
* The move to play Condra and Colin Greening in place of Mika Zibanejad and Milan Michalek paid off for Paul MacLean, who mixed his lines up in-game once again to the point that you never knew who was coming over the boards next.
* Bobby Ryan gave some effort. That in itself is almost a news story after he has pretty much slumbered through much of the season. He got off one a quick release that just missed the net in the third period, but he was a force in overtime at both ends of the ice, and capped it off with the lone goal of the shootout. If he can bottle that 15 minute stretch and use it more often the Senators will be much better off for the next 8 seasons, because I think a lot of people started questioning the signing based on his performance over the first 20 games.
* Erik Karlsson played over 32 minutes, and was effective at both ends of the ice. He was dinged for just 1 giveaway and although he didn't come away with anything statistically speaking from the game, he was a positive force, especially considering the Sens played with 5 blueliners for the last period and overtime as Mark Borowiecki left the game with a lower body injury. Karlsson was the victim of a bad bounce as Ian Cole's floater from the blue line deflected in off the Ottawa captain for the game's opening goal.
* Condra played perhaps his best game as a Senator. He was an assist shy of the Gordie Howe hat trick, was all over the crease, fought Chris Butler after a goalmouth scramble that resulted in the second goal being called back, and as stated earlier had another goal that should have counted. Then for good measure he redirected the shot from Eric Gryba that got the Sens on the board and set up the comeback. He played less than 10 minutes, but it was a very good 10 minutes and made his case to stay in the lineup.
* Greening struggled most of the night. He didn't do much to hurt the team, but had a couple of chances that he flubbed, whether from rust or simply spending too much time sitting beside Condra in the press box that he rubbed off on him (that joke would be funnier if Condra didn't have such a good game).
* Robin Lehner played a solid game, and although he would probably like to have the Steen shot back, it was an open wrister from the faceoff dot that beat him clean. The Senators held their opponent under 30 shots for just the 3rd time this season, and for the first time they won when that happens.
* For those fancy stats folks out there, the Senators dominated the Corsi, with 74 shot attempts overall as opposed to 47 Blues attempts in all situations.
* The Senators now have a couple of days off before back to backs in Florida and Tampa on Friday and Saturday, before a back to back against the Islanders. You can bet after a performance like this against the Blues, the mini-vacation in the sun will feel a lot better.
It will be interesting to see what the lineup looks like in Florida, whether or not Zibanejad and Michalek get back in after the message was sent, and if MacLean will choose to send the message to someone else while keeping Condra (definitely) and Greening (maybe) in the lineup.
SENATORS VALUE ACCORDING TO FORBES
Forbes.com
published their annual franchise value yesterday and to nobody's surprise the Toronto Maple Leafs continue to lead the way with a value of $1.2B, followed closely by the Rangers and Habs who each checked in at the $!B mark.
As for the Senators, their value was pegged at $400M (up 5% from last year), in the middle of the pack. While the value went up from the previous year, it was the third smallest increase in value, as 29 teams increased with only the Panthers being worth less than last season. However, the Sens operating income was estimated to be $22M which was the 8th highest "profit" in the league.
The Senators have the lowest payroll in the league by almost $2M this season, although raises committed to Ryan, MacArthur, Anderson and Borowiecki will raise that total next year, even before the Marc Methot situation is taken care of, one way or the other.
ALFIE DAY IN OTTAWA
Word leaked out from a number of sources that Daniel Alfredsson will be officially announcing his retirement from the NHL next Thursday, December 4th in Ottawa. It will mark the end of a storied career that was often controversial but never dull.
Whether or not he signs one of those ceremonial symbolic one-day contracts (and if you have read my posts lately you know my feelings on them), the simple fact that the team and player have come back together to make the announcement here goes a long way to thinking that the jersey retirement of #11 will come a lot sooner than people would have guessed 12-16 months ago. And that is a very good thing for the player and the franchise.
Ottawa Senators Blogger • 
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