There are games you hope to win, games you consider yourself fortunate to win and games you feel you should win.
Tuesday's 3-0 loss to the Vancouver Canucks certainly falls in to the latter category, and while you could argue that the Senators deserved a better fate, the bottom line is they played a solid game and got nothing to show for it.
It will happen again, and there will also be nights where they steal a game, so it all evens out in the end, but you can look at this one two ways - they didn't really have a letdown coming off a road trip, and with the return of Erik Karlsson the team did a lot of really good things, but on the flipside they didn't finish their chances and in the end left points on the board.
Karlsson wasn't in mid-season form, but for his first outing since the surgery all signs were good. He played over 22 minutes, finishing pointless (obviously) and a -2. The best sign of his return was probably a first period rush where he showed his speed and split through the Vancouver defense for a partial breakaway.
As for the rest of the team perhaps letting down in the wake of the superstar's return, that wasn't really a problem as the Senators outshot and outchanced the Canucks, but it still smarts a bit that they were blanked by a backup goalie, Anders Nilsson, who made 32 saves.
Brock Boeser continued his hot play and makes the fact that he was a healthy scratch for games 1 and 2 even more puzzling. He and Alex Burmistrov each had a goal and an assists, with Boeser's goal being the first power play goal scored against Ottawa this season.
The Senators now have to put forth a similar effort, results aside, when they host the red-hot Devils on Thursday night.
Ottawa Senators Blogger • 
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