Ups and Downs: Week 16

It seems like it's been forever since the team played, but since the last Ups and Downs, the Senators actually played two games: an exciting 4-3 overtime loss to the Rangers, and a 4-3 build-a-lead-then-hope-to-hold-onto-it win over the Maple Leafs. If you can't remember back that far, this will help you to remember who's hot and who's not for the upcoming week.

Biggest Gains: Erik Karlsson

In two games, Karlsson had three goals and ten shots on goal. Against the Rags, his defensive prowess was also firmly on display. The MSG announcers even pointed out that Chris Kreider only managed to score because Karlsson wasn't on the ice at the same time. All in all, a great week for the captain.

Biggest Losses: David Legwand

Legwand played the second-fewest minutes and had the second-worst shot attempts percentage against the Rangers. This was followed up by making him a healthy scratch so Lazar could come back to the lineup. Under Coach Cameron, his minutes had been decreasing, but I don't think anyone expected him to be healthy scratch yet, especially with another full year left on his contract.

Goaltenders	Trend	Notes
Craig Anderson		Held his own in a goaltending battle with Henrik Lundqvist, then put up a .925 save percentage against the Leafs. I can't believe he wasn't one of the injury nods for the All-Star Game.
Robin Lehner		Didn't play. Looks like Cameron doesn't trust him very much.
Defensemen
Mark Borowiecki		Could be removed from the IR any day now.
Cody Ceci		Was the best possession defenceman against the Leafs, played well enough against the Rangers. Gets an up arrow because I think at the best of times, we're seeing what Ceci could regularly be in two years.
Jared Cowen		Had his highest time on ice in a month, 21:10, against the Rangers. I think he'd look great on the third pairing.
Eric Gryba		Looked overexposed against Toronto.
Erik Karlsson		See Biggest Gains
Marc Methot		From last week: "He's helped to stabilize Karlsson's play, and that's all we've ever asked of him." I think that applies perfectly again this week.
Chris Phillips		A healthy scratch for one out of two games this week, and didn't look good when he played. In two more games, he'll tie Daniel Alfredsson for the franchise record in games played. He should hit that number before the end of the season.
Patrick Wiercioch		Scratched for one game, played poorly with Gryba in the other. I think I'd like to see PW with Ceci, and Cowen with Gryba for a change, though all bets are off when Boro comes back.
Forwards
Alex Chiasson		Lost his top-line spot to Stone, but looks a lot better in the bottom six with spot duty on the powerplay. Put in an assist this week.
Erik Condra		I really like Condra's game, but it's hard to say too much either way about his play this week.
Colin Greening		Could be waived at any minute, unless a shocker of a trade is announced.
Mike Hoffman		Goal this week to take the outright rookie goal-scoring lead, to go with a beauty of an assist on a give-and-go with Karlsson. Not bad for Ottawa's Young Star representative.
Curtis Lazar		Scratched for Neil's return, but then got to play as a centre against the Leafs, getting his highest ice time since December 13th.
David Legwand		See Biggest Losses.
Clarke MacArthur		His stat line in two games: no points, 1 shot, -1, average of 15:42. I hope he was nursing some kind of mild injury that he got time to heal over the all-star break.
Milan Michalek		He'll never be worth his contract, but he's started to contribute. Two points in two games is more than I expect of the guy.
Chris Neil		I don't know what to expect of him anymore, so I gave him nothing. I can't help but wonder how long until he starts getting the Phillips treatment from coach Cameron.
Jean-Gabriel Pageau		Pageau looks great. He's fast, he's a strong backchecker, and you can tell he put lots of effort into improving his faceoff ability. The fact that he wasn't scratched for Neil tells me he's up with the team for good this season.
Bobby Ryan		Had two points against Toronto, including an incredible pass between his legs to Karlsson to set up an odd-man rush. Was also Ottawa's lone rep in the All-Star Game.
Zack Smith		Still out with an injured wrist.
Mark Stone		Two points, and got his old job back on the top line.
Kyle Turris		Had one assist this week, but still didn't look like his old self. Cameron's been balancing out the ice time for the lines, and I think Turris has been the most negatively impacted.
Mika Zibanejad		A goal and an assist. He's now seventh on the team in points, and fourth in goals.

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