Mike Condon got just his fourth win of the season, a 30 save performance and Erik Karlsson marked his mileston 600th game with an assist and then the game winner in overtime as the Senators beat the Ducks 2-1.
The win snapped a six game losing streak, with all six losses coming in regulation. They finally passed the 40 point plateau for the season, opening February up on a winning note following a dreadfully bad January.
Bobby Ryan had the other Ottawa goal, a deflection in front of Ryan Miller, before he left the game with...you guessed it...a hand injury (kind of fitting for Groundhog Day actually). It is apparently not broken, but it is unclear if he will be able to play Saturday afternoon when the Senators travel to Philly for the first of back to back afternoon road games.
Ottawa carried a 1-0 lead into the final two minutes of the game, but a defensive breakdown in the 6-on-5 yielded two great scoring chances down low, the first of which Condon made a great leg save off Ryan Kesler, but Kesler earned the Ducks a much needed point seconds later by re-directing a Richard Rackell pass past the Ottawa netminder.
Ryan's injury might mean Colin White sticks around a little longer, as it was expected that the rookie would be sent back to Belleville for the weekend to get more playing time with the return of Nate Thompson. White was a healthy scratch Thursday night, which is pretty mind-boggling given the state of the team that they would sit one of their top prospects during his formative time in favour of some veterans who may not be around past next year, if that long.
White needs to play, and play meaningful minutes at whatever level he is at, and if he is going to be on the Senators roster, he should be playing ahead of the likes of Alex Burrows, Chris DiDomenico and Magnus Paajarvi at the very least.