Swede, Swede, Not So Swede ...

The Ottawa Senators beat the New Jersey Devils in the shootout on Thursday night. I don't know if I've ever seen a team as woeful in the skill competition as the New Jersey Devils in my lifetime. It's gimmicky, sure, but boy are they just horrendous at it.

Erik Karlsson had the noted game-winner, beating Devils goaltender Cory Schneider on a nifty little move. He'll be credited with the difference-maker, but Ottawa's best player tonight was Robin Lehner, who stopped thirty-eight of thirty-nine shots -- and every Devils skater in the shootout -- on the road to victory.

No doubt Robin Lehner's enjoying himself tonight, and he should. As a larger thought, games where Ottawa's goaltenders have truly won games for the team this year have been extremely rare. Whether it was Anderson early on or Lehner in the later months, the goaltending as a whole was just not very good this year. Of course, it doesn't help when you're playing behind such a woeful defensive corps. Either way, you know Lehner's proud of his performance here, and he should be.

The "Not So Swede" part of the title refers to Mika Zibanejad, who basically didn't play the second-half of the game. Why? Well, here's one thing circulating via Twitter.

Ottawa really hasn't had many bright spots this year -- other than the magic of the Turris/MacArthur duo on the team's top-line, it's been pretty bleak. Next on that list, if you were sorting these things, would probably be the development/play of young Mika Zibanejad.

So, it really sucks that he's apparently injured, perhaps badly enough to have to visit the local hospital.

We'll see if anything comes of it.

Thanks for reading!