For the third straight game, it was there for the taking, and for the third straight game the Senators found a way to lose a close game.
And they have nobody to blame but themselves. The officiating certainly tilted in their favor, most notably a full two minutes of 5-on-3 action, during which they managed just one shot on goal and did more shooting themselves in the foot than shooting at the goal. It was also another poor decision on a coaches challenge that had no legitimate shot at succeeding that cost them their time out late in the second, one that they could have certainly used on either of a pair of offensive zone faceoffs in the last minute to give their top players a rest and set up a play.
But like so many games recently that could, and indeed have, gone either way, there were a lot of positives as well. Ryan Dzingel and Kyle Turris were flying, combined on the lone Senators goal and having multiple chances. The line of Jean-Gabriel Pageau, Tom Pyatt and Chris Kelly did a good job on their assignment of shutting down Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom and T.J. Oshie.
In the end it was the little mistakes that caught up with the Senators - getting caught on a long stretch pass to Justin Williams in the second period that led to the tying goal by Karl Alzner after Mike Condon had made a great save on the Williams breakaway. Then it was an own-zone turnover by Curtis Lazar, a struggling player perhaps trying to do too much, that resulted in Taylor Chorney's game winner through traffic that Condon couldn't see until it was too late.
So with the loss the Senators go into their bye week, off the ice (officially) until Friday. They should get Zack Smith back, but Bobby Ryan didn't play in the last eight minutes but since there wasn't anything mentioned about it that I have seen, I would assume he didn't suffer anything major injury-wise.
So for now, we can turn our attention to the World Juniors, conveniently enough, where three of today's four quarterfinal matchups will feature Senators prospects playing prominent roles. Thomas Chabot and Team Canada will attempt to get to the Semi-finals at the expense of Filip Chlapik and the Czech Republic tonight in Montreal. Chabot has been one of the best blueliners in the tournament overall, but like most 19 year old defenseman has had his down moments as well. The pressure will be turned up on him even more with his partner Philippe Myers out for the remainder with a concussion suffered against the US.
Colin White and the US should have no trouble to advance against Switzerland, likewise Filip Ahl and Jonathan Dahlen for Sweden against Slovakia.
It is essentially a four team tournament, and there should be no upsets in the quaterfinals, setting up a USA-Russia and a Canada-Sweden semi-final, with the appropriate 3 teams coming from the much tougher B pool.