Well, happy at least for a night. While the home part of their schedule ended abruptly last night with a 3-1 win over the Panthers on fan appreciation night, in the grand scheme of things it didn't change much. Except that they improved by 2 spots in the standings, passing New Jersey and Colorado, meaning they dropped a full 1% in their chances for nabbing the first overall pick, and now sit at just 2.5%.

Buddy Robinson scored his first NHL goal, and it turned out to be the game winner on a nice deflection of Cody Ceci's shot after some nice offensive zone work from Chris Neil. Mika Zibanejad scored his 20th of the season (twice), after he had the first one called back because of an offside that was discovered on a coaches challenge. He put a rebound past Luongo later on in the first, and that one counted.

After Jaromir Jagr made it a one goal game and the Panthers were pressing for the equalizer, Ceci made a nice individual effort to get the lead back to 2 with just under 6 minutes left for the insurance marker and Craig Anderson held the fort for the win.

Erik Karlsson picked up an assist on the Zibanejad goal, giving him 81 points in 81 games, the most since Ray Bourque and BrianLeetch did it in the 1995-96 season.

So on to Boston for one last game, one that means everything for the Bruins and nothing but pride for the Senators. Boston beat the Red Wings on Thursday and a win over the Senators might not clinch a playoff spot right away depending on what goes on later in the afternoon with the Flyers, but would certainly go a long way in putting the pressure on both the Flyers and Wings (who play their final game at the same time).


One game, and then a summer of reflection and internal dissecting begins in earnest.

Join the Discussion: » 30 Comments » Post New Comment

» Goodbye, and good luck!

» Can Colin White fill the #2C role as early as next year?

» Boucher staying put, at least for now

» Boucher Day

» Sens fall to #4 in draft lottery