It wasn't a masterpiece by any means, but for a Senators fan, or a member of the Senators' organization for that matter, but this morning the only thing that counts is that they snapped one of the worst winless streaks in franchise history.
Those who have been clamoring for a larger role for Thomas Chabot no doubt have a large "I told you so" attitude today as the rookie had the mos productive game of his career and led the Senators with a goal and two assists in the wild 6-5 win. It was his first career goal that tied the game at 4 after Ottawa had given up a couple of leads and even fell behind, and it came in the middle of a 5 goal second period that saw the rare occurrence of both starting goalies getting the hook within 3 minutes or so of each other.
Ryan Dzingel opened the scoring and also had the game winner, but perhaps more importantly going forward is that a couple of top 6 forwards, Bobby Ryan and Zack Smith, scored their first goals of the season (and in case you just woke up, it was December 1st. Smith's goal was nice, a cannon from the top of the slot off a turnover created by Matt Duchene, while Ryan's went in blindly off his skate, but in that situation it doesn't matter how ugly it is, it probably felt like bar-down to him.
Ottawa scored 6 in this one, after scoring just 9 during their 7 game slide.
But it wasn't all pretty and there are still causes for concern, especially Craig Anderson who gave up 5 goals on 18 shots and seemed to have trouble tracking the puck. He has allowed 4 or more goals in three of his last four starts, and this was the eighth time in 19 appearances four have been put past him. Mike Condon came in and stopped all 19 shots he faced, including a point-blank stop off Andrew Ladd and a flurry in the final minute as the Islanders desperately searched for the tying goal.
Other areas of concern are the fact that Ottawa scored 6 times and Erik Karlsson was pointless and a -3. Karlsson hasn't recorded a point since Sweden, and is nearing his career-long pointless skid. He isn't even the highest scoring Karlsson, as his namesake William is having a career year with the expansion Vegas Golden Knights and has 14 goals and 24 points in 25 games.
And finally, in the trifecta of concern is the fact that Ryan took another slash on the hand and was in great discomfort even though he returned to the game and toughed it out. Gotta find that guy a decent pair of gloves.
But for one day at least you can put those blemishes aside and enjoy the fact that they got a win, however it looked. I don't know if the switch was suddenly turned on, or if it was a case of two teams who both give up a lot of goals but also score a lot of goals, but it was a much needed two points against a team that hadn't lost in regulation on home ice. I would expect Condon to start as they head west to face the Jets on Sunday night, another high-flying opponent that is firing on all cylinders offensively and are among the best teams in the league.