The Ottawa Senators iced a bare minimum lineup in terms of NHL veterans for the back half of the home and home exhibition series with the Toronto Maple Leafs, but they still came away with a second win in as many nights.

It was another penalty-filled affair as the players adjust to the new faceoff and slashing standards. Its too bad they didn't also outlaw shot blocking, as earlier in the day it was revealed that Colin White's quest to make the opening night roster was ended with a broken wrist that will keep him on the shelf for at least 6 weeks. White was injured in the waning moments of Monday night's game while the Senators were ahead 6-2 and it was a poorly executed, awkward looking block that left himself exposed and the puck found the wrong spot. I guess you credit the player for the sacrifice, but the timing and the situation (score, exhibition game) makes you wonder if it was the smartest thing to do. Or at least teach him how to do it properly, because that block was Ugly.

With the injury list growing up front, it opens the door for another player to grab a roster spot, and some of those hopefuls made their first case on Tuesday night, with Logan Brown and Filip Chlapik both having solid outings. The Senators were badly outshout, however, and it was Mike Condon and especially Marcus Hogberg in the net that stole the show, the latter stopping all 16 shots he faced in relief of Condon.

Brown opened the scoring before the game was 5 minutes old, but the Leafs led 2-1 before the period was out, on goals from Patrick Marleau and some nice puck movement on the power play to allow James van Riemsdyk a tap-in on a yawning cage. Freddie Claesson tallied the lone marker of the second period to tie it up. Erik Burgdoerfer (who?) scored what proved to be the game winner, tapping home a rebound after having his initial breakaway attempt out of the penalty box denied. Chlapik and Pat Sieloff added empty netters to make the score more lopsided than the game actually was.

White's injury, along with Erik Karlsson being on the shelf increases, in my mind at least, the probability that the Senators start the season playing with 11 forwards and 7 defensemen on a more regular basis. I figure not having the depth up front to fill the 12th forward role with a truly quality, NHL ready player and also having to try to replace Karlsson's minutes with one player doesn't make sense. So I would have no problem with dressing two of Mark Borowiecki/Chris Wideman/Ben Harpur to fill the 6th spot (Claesson being the 5th guy aling with Ceci, Phaneuf, Chabot and Oduya). You can deploy them situationally while Karlsson is on the mend without adding too much pressure to the other 5 to play more than they should be. The quality obviously won't be there, but if they can each give you 10-12 good minutes that would ease the burden on the rest.

The Senators are off until Saturday night when they will host the Habs for their final home game of the pre-season. I would anticipate a bunch of players getting re-assigned today, back to junior or released and they will likely split into primarily AHL and NHL camps as they ramp up for the regular season which starts two weeks from tomorrow.

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