It certainly won't go down as one of the prettier or more complete efforts of the season, but last time I checked there wasn't a column for style in the NHL standings. Two points is two points, and that is what the Ottawa Senators escaped with and by virtue of Boston's shootout loss in Florida the gap for the final playoff spot is now 1 point and the Sens regain control of their own destiny.
Kyle Turris scored the go-ahead goal in the final minute of an almost disastrous second period and added the empty netter in the dying seconds of the third to rescue victory from a disjointed effort.
The Senators' jumped out to a 2-0 first period lead (on goals from Mike Hoffman and Erik Karlsson) but whether it was a matter of thinking the Leafs were just going to fold, or perhaps it was the injury to Milan Michalek late in the first period that forced a lot of lineup juggling, but the Senators didn't have the same jump in the second.
It almost cost them, as the Leafs scored twice early in the second sandwiched around a Curtis Lazar goal, and tied it up with just under 5 minutes to go in the frame. It was nice to see a little bit of emotion from Dave Cameron behind the bench during that lull, as he laid into the players during a TV timeout with a rare display of any emotion.
Lazar finally showed a finishing ability that many fans have been waiting to see, firing a laser beam over the shoulder of James Reimer, the shot which chased Reimer from the Toronto net in favor of Jonathan Bernier. While Lazar's first three goals of the season were of the dirty variety, that shot showed that he does indeed have the ability to score the nice ones as well. Hopefully there is more of those in the future.
Andrew Hammond was solid in net, once again allowing his team the opportunity to come away with the win. As a result he pushed his record to 13-0-1 and moved within 2 games of tying Patrick Lalime's record of 16 straight decisions (14-0-2) getting at least a point to start a career.
The Bruins face the Lightning Sunday at 5:00 pm and if they fall to Tampa Ottawa will be able to move into sole possession of 8th place with a win over the Sharks on Monday, but will also hold 2 games in hand on both them and the Capitals, who they trail by 5 points and play against later this season.
If they happen to be able to catch both the Bruins and Caps it looks like that might set up a playoff series with the Montreal Canadiens, which could be a very exciting matchup, but that is looking too far ahead. The bottom line is that the Senators regained the control that they lost by not beating the Bruins in their first meeting a couple of weeks ago, and they are full marks for doing so.