It was a crazy Sunday night in Ottawa, and for those who like their hockey offensive, you were in luck. No lead was safe in a game that required overtime, with the Columbus Blue Jackets earning some measure of revenge for Thursday's loss at home by downing the Senators 7-6.

I will go on my rant a bit later with respect to the Senators' handling of their goaltending, but for now lets just say that it was a result of the way the game went. Columbus started, as I had anticipated, their backup goalie in Joonas Korpisalo, and the Senators took full advantage.

After Zack Smith exchanged goals with Nick Foligno within the first 1:16, you might have gotten an indication of how the game was going to go. The first ended 2-2 with Smith adding his second of the period, and Curtis Lazar getting an assist for his first point of the season and ending a personal 32 game pointless streak dating back to last spring. Scott Harrington responded to that one and the track meet was on. Ottawa fell behind early in the second before Mike Hoffman scored a pair sandwiching a Mark Stone tally and Ottawa entered the third period with a 2 goal cushion and things looked good for the home side.

But as with the previous two periods, the ice was barely dry before the red light was lit, and this time it was Columbus who struck twice to take the tie the game before the period was three minutes old courtesy Lukas Sedlak and Matt Calvert. Cam Atkinson gave the Blue Jackets their second lead of the night on a shot from the top of the circle that was deflected in the air and I guess the sun got in Condon's eyes because he whiffed on the pop fly and it fell into the net behind him. That was a deflating goal as the Senators had rebounded somewhat from the first couple of minutes and were playing well.

Kyle Turris, in his 500th career game, tied it back up a couple of minutes later on a power play to force overtime, where an errant Erik Karlsson shot rang around the boards and sprung Atkinson on a breakaway and he ended it with a nice deke on Condon.

A few takeaways from this one -

* How does anyone go 31 games without even a gimme assist? Especially a first rounder with the pedigree of Lazar. He seemed to have more confidence with the puck getting that gorilla off his back, but still couldn't finish his chances later on.

* The Senators had a few chances to extend their lead or get back into the game quicker, but Korpisalo actually made some key saves to give his team a chance to win despite allowing 6 goals.

* Playing 2 defensemen in overtime is a mistake, especially when one of them is Dion Phaneuf (and to a lesser extent, Marc Methot) As well has he can play 5 on 5 and on the penalty kill, he looks like he is in quicksand when the pace picks up at 3-on-3 level. The formula worked against the Leafs because they are terrible in the shootout, and the Senators seemed to be playing for that result, but against the Blue Jackets it hurt them greatly. A big dose of Karlsson, with a sprinkling of Cody Ceci and Chris Wideman, players who can skate with pace, along with two forwards should be the only recipe for Guy Boucher.

And finally, the goaltending situation. I said after the Columbus game in Ohio that how the Senators handled their goalies on the weekend would be interesting and telling. And I think they blew it quite frankly. While there were a bunch of people who indicated that the team should ride Mike Condon till the wheels fall off, i would whole-heartedly disagree and they showed very short-term thinking.

Paraphrasing a few thoughts I saw on social media -

- No reason to make a change now
- No need to worry about burning Condon out because Anderson is coming back
- Condon can rest over the All-Star break next weekend

Now don't get me wrong, I am not placing the blame solely on Condon for the loss, or for a majority of the goals that got past him. But how many rally good saves did he make? Maybe two or three? Even so, it is not about the win or the loss, the goals against or the point in the standings.

The Senators were playing their 3rd game in 4 days, 4th in 6, and will play their 5th game in 8 days on Tuesday. And the first three were all no the road so required travel. It was also a quick turnaround from after 10:00 on Saturday night when the game ended in Toronto to the 5:00 start in Ottawa Sunday. That is just begging for an injury, leaving aside the fact that he allowed 7 goals in 61 minutes, and the sixth goal could be construed as one where fatigue could have been a factor.

Does Chris Dreidger (or Matt O'Connor) allow 7 goals in that game? Something we will never know, and quite frankly it doesn't matter. The win over the Leafs and sweeping the 3 game road trip meant they were sort of playing with house money on Sunday. With two more games before the All-Star break having Condon with an extra day of rest would have been beneficial in the long run. Now Condon is going to be in the net Tuesday for the 23rd straight time, 14th straight start and playing his fifth game in eight days, facing the Capitals.

There was absolutely no need for it. And even if Anderson comes back after the break, Boucher has stated it will be about two weeks of practice before he will be game ready. What if Condon had gotten hurt or what if he gets hurt on Tuesday? I am fully aware that it could happen at any time, but the chances of it happened are greater if he is tired and fatigued. There are 8 games between now and when Anderson might be likely to play, Feb 14th. If Condon had (or does) pull a groin or twist his knee

And finally, what message is that sending to the backups if one of them doesn't get to start a game in a situation (3 in 4 days, short turnaround with a heavy travel week behind them) where I would bet 99% of the time the backup would be played. Who knows what would have happened with a fresh Chris Driedger between the pipes. It could have been good, or it could have been a gong show, which is what it ended up being anyway, something that was almost inevitable and that isn't talking in hindsight.

It is about risk/reward and the Senators, and they took a big risk and even if they had won, I am not sure the reward was worth the risk given their situation, the timing and where they sit in the standings. Condon has been a saviour to the Senators' season, and I might have played with an empty net if it meant giving him a day off on Sunday.

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