Senators Ups and Downs: Week six

A blowout loss to the Vancouver Canucks shouldn't have been unexpected, but it still wasn't enough to ruin Ottawa's week, as the Senators finished with two wins along with that loss. One against Atlanta was a game they were expected to win, but beating Boston (and giving Tim Thomas his first loss of the season) was a strong statement within the division.

Biggest Gains: Peter Regin
Regin's line with Jason Spezza and Alex Kovalev had been playing well for a couple of weeks now, but it wasn't until this week that Regin was able to pot his first goal of the season. He was, in fact, the only Senator who played well for the whole of the Vancouver game. If his play keeps up, the goals will keep coming.

Biggest Losses: Pascal Leclaire
Tough week for Snoopy. He's forced to watch his counterpart Brian Elliott light things up, and then when Leclaire gets his shot, he's lit up for six goals--not entirely his fault, but he wasn't without blame, either. So he's back on the bench for the foreseeable future.

(read on for the full rundown...)

Goalies	Trend	Notes
Brian Elliott		Elliott's just kept on playing well, and his first shutout of the season was long overdue. He's turning a lot of heads with his play, and is a big reason why the Senators have turned things around.
Pascal Leclaire		See "Biggest Losses".
Defensemen
Filip Kuba		Kuba played his first game of the season Saturday against the Bruins, and was eased into duty. He put up an assist, but seemed like he was mostly trying to take it easy and get back into things.
Chris Phillips		A step back for Phillips, after a step forward. He was especially unimpressive against Vancouver, but settled down a bit for the Boston game. Still, more is expected from him.
Sergei Gonchar		Gonchar had two goals in three games, mostly because he's getting set up well by his teammates and is able to unleash his monstrous shot from the point. It's looking good.
Brian Lee		Still scratched. Best thing that could happen for Lee is if Bryan Murray can find someone who wants to acquire him and give him some ice time.
Erik Karlsson		Amazingly, Karlsson is fourth in team scoring with 11P, including three (1G, 2A) in the three games of this week. The kid is alright.
Chris Campoli		Campoli had two assists in three games this week. And he dropped the gloves with Mark Recchi (so weird). Not bad.
Matt Carkner		A convincing win in his bout against Rick Rypien highlighted Carkner's defensively reliable week. Still looking for his first goal.
David Hale		Hale's week was prototypically reliable, but he was muscled out of the lineup when Kuba returned. He'd likely be on his way to Binghamton if not for the possibility he'd be plucked off waivers.
Forwards
Jason Spezza		Funny that Jason Spezza had three points in three games this week, but all three were in the first game (against Atlanta). Even though he didn't score in the other games, though, his line was dominant.
Alex Kovalev		Another week of solid play for Kovalev, even if he only had one assist through it. The bast two weeks have been the best Kovy has played as a Senator.
Daniel Alfredsson		He was almost invisible against Vancouver, but his line with Michalek and Fisher stepped up against Boston. Still, Alfie wasn't himself this week.
Milan Michalek		Michalek was down for most of the week, but on the bright side, he started trending upwards in the final game.
Mike Fisher		Bad week for Fisher: No points, -2, and he's even missing the element of physicality that makes it okay when he's not scoring. Needs to get back to basics.
Nick Foligno		It seems like Foligno can't buy a goal, but at least he's starting to generate the chances that lead to them. It's strange that he's getting closer to scoring on the fourth line than he was on the second, but it looks like it's got to come soon.
Chris Kelly		Normal week for Kelly, although he did get two assists in the three games, which ain't half bad.
Chris Neil		Neil scored his first goal of the season against the Thrashers, and had a fight in each of the other two games--including a win against Zdeno Chara.
Jarkko Ruutu		Another rough week for Ruutu. No points (in fact, he's scoreless in 11 games), and he continues to take more penalties than he draws.
Peter Regin		See "Biggest Gains".
Jesse Winchester		Winchester's another guy who scored his first goal of the season this week, and he was especially good against the Bruins--his boardwork in the defensive zone was very strong.
Ryan Shannon		Not bad, but fairly unremarkable.