Ups and downs, elation and frustration. The Ottawa Senators have been nothing if not interesting.
A game after a great, nearly complete performance in defeating a legitimate Stanley Cup contender in the New York Rangers, and a chance to enter the All-Star break within a point or so of the final playoff spot, the Senators couldn't get the job done against the lowly Buffalo Sabres.
They twice held 1 goal leads but choked them away and after Buffalo took the lead early in the third it was all Ottawa, but an old friend turned them aside as Robin Lehner got his first win in more than 11 months and his first win as a Sabre all at once.
It was a game where both teams looked like they wanted to start their break early, as many teams around the league did, with half a dozen teams allowing 5 or more goals. It was a missed opportunity for Ottawa, and they have nobody but themselves to blame.
Ahead 1-0, a bad decision by Jared Cowen and even worse misplay by Craig Anderson led to Evander Kane banking the puck in from behind the net. Cowen was the centre of attention on the Sabres second goal, but it wasn't entirely his fault. After Ottawa had taken their second lead of the game, Lehner caught Ottawa on a brutal line change and fired the puck up to Jack Eichel. The rookie was in alone and Cowen did as good a job as he could to cut the angle and force Eichel wide past the net. Eichel's ridiculous reach allowed him to wrap the puck around before Anderson or Erik Karlsson could get to the other post. The TSN color guy Jamie McLennan was pretty hard on Cowen, but from where he had to start the play coming on the ice, there wasn't much more he could have done.
Third goal, Eichel's second of the game and what turned out to be the game-winner, was another comedy of errors as Anderson misplayed a shot and as he was jumping for the rebound, Chris Neil bumped him and the puck squirted free and Eichel's reach again came into play.
Ottawa fired 22 straight shots in an effort to tie the game in the last 18 minutes, and the best chance was probably an open net from in close, but Mika Zibanejad's shot went off a defender's stick.
Awarded a power play with 23 seconds left, the Senators needed another tenth of a second, as Jean-Gabriel Pageau put it in, but time had expired a split second before the puck crossed the line and an elated arena became silent after the goal that was initially called a goal was then overturned on replay.
So the Senators don't enter the break the way they wanted, and it was certainly a game that was there for the taking. It would be one thing if the Sabres came and took the game, but they managed just 9 shots in the last 40 minutes and the Keystone Kop Senators reared their ugly head and gave this one away.
Lehner gets some credit for shutting the door in the third, but Ottawa has to find a way to bear down on those chances and get some finish.
They have a full week off for Marc Methot and Kyle Turris to get healthy as well as Mark Stone to find the answer to what is ailing his game. The Senators blew this one, but have a relatively favorable schedule in the next month so there is still time for a momentum swing.
But continuing to play to the level of the competition (especially the lower level) and far too often not being able to set the pace or find an identity will get in the way of their making any strides after the break.
There needs to be some soul searching and they had better come back with some answers. And as much as I have tried to give him the benefit of the doubt in the past, one of those answers has to be finding a landing spot for Jared Cowen, regardless of the return, on a team that needs the cap credit he can offer them in an off-season buyout.
The players, management, fans, and everyone else need to take a deep breath. It could be worse (ie. Montreal) but it certainly could be a heck of a lot better with 32 games left to go. The marathon is about to become a sprint.
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The public got its first look at the two proposals for the redevelopment of Lebreton Flats, including that of the Senators group, the proposal called IllumiNATION Lebreton. Flashy as they are, both proposals include an NHL calibre arena and although there are two proposals it really looks at this point like it is Eugene Melnyk's to lose , because he holds the cards, the biggest being the NHL club.
I don't quite understand the backlash for a downtown arena, because that is where the most successful teams have their homes. For twenty years the complaint has been that Palladium/Corel Centre/Scotiabank Place/Canadian Tire Centre is in the middle of nowhere and now that the downtown arena looks to be within 10 years or so of becoming a reality there are still those who complain. I have never lived in the east end so I haven't had to experience the trials and tribulations those people have had to endure, but for the most part I have no complaints about where the arena is now. Moving it downtown where there should be a multi-billion dollar transit system in place by the time anything gets built, shouldn't make it any worse.
You can't and won't please everyone and I realize a lot of people don't want something like this in their own backyard, but if even half of the attractions proposed actually come to fruition the plans look like something that will benefit the city and make sure the Sens are around long term. And that they will be able to compete with the big boys and not be limited by the internal budget that has dogged them for so long, eliminating a lot of excuses. Either that or Melnyk will have to mortgage everything to the hilt to get the project going and things will get worse before they get better.
It will still be more than a year before a decision is even made and much longer than that before shovels hit the ground, so I don't think anyone is going to count their chickens before they hatch.
But, as the saying goes, "If you build it, they will come".