Senators Ups and Downs: Week 7

It was a week that told the story of the Senators season. An ugly loss to the Flyers, a big win agains the Bruins, and an ugly loss to the Blue Jackets.

The feeling after the Columbus game especially was not a happy one, and it made it tough to remember that the Sens were winners of 4 of their last 6 games. Has been hard to figure out just what is plaguing the Sens this season, but there weren't many great performances this week.

Biggest Gains: Chris Neil: I've been on record in the past as someone who isn't a Chris Neil fan. Though he has had a tough start to the year, Neil has been coming on in the last couple weeks. In the team's only win this week it was Chris Neil, with a big hit (and a much, much bigger goal), who turned the tide against the Bruins. Slim pickings this week.

Biggest Losses: Craig Anderson: Tough week for Andy, which will do nothing to help the "goalie controversy" that Paul Maclean tried hard to suppress. 3 games, GAA of 3.11, SV% of 0.899. Those just aren't the numbers we are used to from Anderson. He wasn't the reason the Sens lost in either of the games, but he could stand to be a lot better.

Goaltenders	Trend	Notes
Craig Anderson		See "Biggest Losses"
Robin Lehner		Three starts, three wins, then no starts this week. Think we'll be seeing him Tuesday.
Defensemen
Mark Borowiecki		May be getting a call from the league for his hit on Jared Boll, but has continued to provide a physical presence on the blue line, but he can't offer much else.
Joe Corvo		Corvo didn't play this week, but with Chris Phillips playing regularly on the Senators struggling PP, we might need to see him soon.
Jared Cowen		Moved away from Karlsson, Cowen scored the game winner against the Bruins. Is he playing well? Let's just say the bar hasn't been set very high.
Eric Gryba		A plus 1 and 6 hits in two games this week. When you aren't noticing him, that's when you know he's doing well.
Erik Karlsson		A beautiful assist against the Bruins on Jason Spezza's tying goal and the only goal against the Jackets. Par for the Erik Karlsson course.
Marc Methot		Biggest shot he took all week was the one he took at Adnan.
Chris Phillips		Didn't play against the Flyers. Part of the problem on the power play, part of the problem on the penalty kill against the Blue Jackets.
Patrick Wiercioch		Still not playing. Got a chance against the Flyers and finished a -1, and didn't see the ice for the rest of the week. This team needs preseason Patty.
Forwards
Cory Conacher		Really liked Conacher's week. Got a chance to move up and play with Jason Spezza, and that line was the best against the Bruins. Looked good on second PP unit with Zibanejad.
Erik Condra		Returned, got Kassian out, and then the penalty kill got lit up, and he was a -1.
Derek Grant		Really solid as a 4th line centre. When Kassian isn't out there, Grant's line can actually generate zone time.
Colin Greening		15 hits in three games, and should have had an assist on Neils big goal. But when will we get some Greening goals?
Matt Kassian		Finally scratched on Sunday, barely saw the ice against the big bad Bruins.
Clarke MacArthur		Was the Sens best player in an ugly game against the Flyers, but like the rest of his line was hard to spot the rest of the week.
Milan Michalek		Better week from Milan, but that's not saying much. Looks good on the second PP unit with Zibanejad and Conacher.
Chris Neil		See "Biggest Gains"
Bobby Ryan		Bobby is very good, but this week we didn't see much. He had a beauty goal against the Bruins though.
Z. Smith		Took a bit of a step back this week, the speed we saw in the last couple of weeks wasn't on display as much.
Jason Spezza		Very, very close to being biggest gains. Jason Spezza stepped up in a big way against the Bruins. He was on the ice all night, and had two big points.
Kyle Turris		With many players on this list benefit from setting a low bar, Turris suffers from setting a high bar. Our top centre did nothing this week.
Mika Zibanejad		Mika is plugging away. Has himself stuck on the 4th forward line, but is getting power play time on the second unit, and looks good in his limited opportunities.

Special thanks to our friend winterion at Japer's Rink for our icons!