Sergei Bobrovsky gave Nick Paul and the Senators a belated Christmas present late in the second period and it turned the tide for a club that desperately needed a break. Although the Senators came close to giving it back near the end, they used Bobrovsky's miscue to propel them to four unanswered goals to erase a 3-1 deficit and go on to a 5-4 win.
It was the Senators' best effort in some time, but for a long while it looked like they would not be rewarded as Bobrovsky was in Vezina form and a 20 second lapse defensively on the part of the home side turned a 1-1 game into what looked like an insurmountable 3-1 Blue Jackets lead.
Then a seemingly harmless dump in from Paul that was going wide went off the goalie's stick and instead of being guided to the corner it was off the toe and back through his legs. Ottawa took full advantage and tied it up before the period was out on a nice breakaway deke from Matt Duchene to tie the game.
Mark Stone gave the Senators their first lead of the game on a nice individual effort by doing Mark Stone things, picking off a clearing attempt, beating a couple of defenders and then somehow stuffing the puck past Bobrovsky's skate on a second effort at the side of the net.
Bobby Ryan scored the eventual winner on a great setup by Erik Karlsson, the captain's second beautiful assist of the night.
Zack Werenski scored a power play goal with half a minute left to probably put some doubt in even the most optimistic Senators' fans' mind, but they held on for the rare win.
Mike Condon got the "W", but you would be hard pressed to say he was the major factor in the win, stopping 21 of 25 shots for an .840 SP. It will be interesting to see who gets the net in the back to back Saturday night because....
Now they will try to do it again and begin a long climb to contention as they have a rematch of Wednesday's depressing 5-1 loss to the Bruins. Boston was off last night after they lost to the Capitals in a shootout on Thursday.
Boston could get some good news on the injury front as they might get one of both of veterans David Krejci and Adam McQuaid back in the lineup, which is not good news for the Senators as the Bruins have been one of the best teams in the league of late even without a couple of their more experienced players.
The playoffs are still a pipe-dream as long as the gap between them and a playoff spot remains in double-digits, so it is just a game at a time and they have to get on a roll to chip away at the chasm, it isn't going to be a quick fix.
The Senators played well against Columbus, but in the past almost two months they have generally followed up a step forward by taking two back, so finding some positive consistency is of paramount importance.
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As a side note, congratulations to former Senators prospect Jeff Glass, who was drafted in the third round of the 2004 NHL Entry draft and was the goalie for the dominant Canadian team at the 2005 World Juniors (the lockout version). In his 13th pro season, he finally made his NHL debut at age 32 last night for the Chicago Blackhawks. Glass faced 42 shots and backstopped the Hawks to a 4-3 OT win, in a testament of perseverence for a goalie who spent a long time in the minors and played for 6 teams over 7 seasons in the KHL before finally getting a chance to get an NHL start.
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Team USA beat Team Canada in a shootout in the outdoor game in Buffalo at the World Juniors in a game that had the expected spectacle but conditions didn't allow for the skill to shine. Heavy snow and degrading ice conditions didn't allow either team to play their best, and while the USA took the win, Canada got the point it needed to virtually assure themselves of first place in the A pool, barring an upset of epic proportions when they take to the ice against Denmark tonight.
I wasn't a fan of the idea of having the outdoor game as part of the tournament, especially because of the format changes it required and the result was about what I had expected and hopefully both teams escaped unscathed. But they got 44,000+ fans out to watch the event, and I am pretty sure these two teams will meet again in the next week and the better team can be decided in controllable conditions.