Ups and Downs: Week 18
A look at how the players did as the Sens started their freefall out of playoff contention.
If management thought the Senators could still compete for a playoff spot, this past week has to have shown them that it's futile. The Sens lost all three games: 2-1 to the Devils, 2-1 to the Capitals, and 4-1 to the Blue Jackets, though that one was also 2-1 until the last two minutes. By Saturday night, the Sens were 14 points out of the final Wild Card spot (albeit with two games in hand).
In a week in which the Sens scored only three goals in three games, not very many people stood out positively. Lehner gets this award for putting up a .913 in three games. He got three starts this week, and showed management that he can at least be a starting goalie. That's a lot better than we could've said about his season a week ago.
Biggest Losses: Jean-Gabriel Pageau
He put up pretty poor possession numbers through two games, and then was almost a healthy scratch against the Jackets. I don't expect him to stay in this funk after the promise he's shown for most of the year, but it doesn't bode well that Cameron was willing to scratch him.
| Goaltenders | Trend | Notes |
| Craig Anderson |  | Get well soon! |
| Robin Lehner |  | See Biggest Gains |
| Defensemen | ||
| Mark Borowiecki | | Played two games this week, and put up Corsi-for percentages above 60% in both of those games. Credit where credit is due. |
| Cody Ceci |  | Victimized for a goal against the Jackets to sum up a week in which he was among the Sens' worst possession players. |
| Jared Cowen | | Had a better week than his partner, but not by much. |
| Eric Gryba |  | Great game against the Jackets, poor game against the Caps (like most of the defencemen), and scratched against the Capitals. We'll call it a wash. |
| Erik Karlsson | | Held pointless this week, but was the Sens' best player most of the week. He looked like the only defenceman who bothered to show up against the Capitals. |
| Marc Methot | | He had an overall pretty good week, in no small part due to playing with Karlsson, but you can't fault him for not being as good as his partner. |
| Chris Phillips | | Only one game this week, but he gets a plus for setting a new franchise record for games played. |
| Patrick Wiercioch | | Only played one game, and was hardly noticeable. I'm expecting him more and more to get traded to a team that admires his stats. |
| Forwards | ||
| Alex Chiasson | | Only played one game this week, but was dependable on the ice. If he wasn't the supposed centrepiece of the Jason Spezza trade, he'd be definite trade bait. |
| Erik Condra | | Condra is praised for being one of Ottawa's top possession forwards - too bad he didn't achieve that at all this week. |
| Mike Hoffman | | Put up two points in a week where all Ottawa players combined put up seven points. When Hoffman's on the ice, the puck is rarely in Ottawa's zone. |
| Curtis Lazar | | Lazar in the top six has been a weird experiment, but he gets a plus for a great read to set up an ugly breakaway goal, his second goal of the year. |
| David Legwand | | Legwand's week was fine. I really don't know what else to say. |
| Clarke MacArthur | | The MacA-Zbad-Ryan line went frombeing the new hotness to being pretty terrible this week, all three being held pointless. Maybe we'll see 7-16 back together soon. |
| Milan Michalek | | Scratched against the Jackets, and nobody batted an eye. |
| Chris Neil | | He keeps playing, and plays with a lot of energy. If he decides he wants to be traded, someone is going to overpay for what he brings at his age. |
| Jean-Gabriel Pageau | | See Biggest Losses. |
| Bobby Ryan | | Just like MacArthur, Ryan had a forgettable week. |
| Zack Smith | | Are we ever going to hear an update on this guy? |
| Mark Stone | | He had a point this week, and looked pretty good. Probably could have got an up arrow, but I felt like I'd already given out too many for a pretty awful week for the team. |
| Kyle Turris | | I actually kind of liked the look of the 68-7-61 group. He scored a goal, and was the Sens' best possession player in two out of three games this week. |
| Mika Zibanejad | | I think it's only a matter of time until Cameron gives Turris his first-line centre job back, at least for a few games. |
Special thanks to our friend winterion at Japers' Rink for our icons!