Ups and Downs: Week 27
It's still up-and-down, even as the Sens qualified for the playoffs.
The Senators went 3-0-0 this week to clinch their playoff spot, setting up a first-round matchup with the Canadiens. Bring it on!
Biggest gains: Mark Stone
As much as I hate to pick the same guy two weeks in a row, he had four goals and an assist in three games. His second goal against the Flyers was magical. He worked himself into the rookie lead for points, tied with Johnny Gaudreau. I'm all kinds of fired up to watch this guy in the playoffs.
Biggest losses: Zack Smith
A couple weeks ago, Smith was being tried on the second line. This week, he got less than 10 minutes of ice time in each game. You get the feeling that if anybody else is healthy, Smith gets the scratch.
| Goaltenders | Trend | Notes |
| Craig Anderson |  | Didn't play. |
| Andrew Hammond |  | Big week for Hammond, three wins in three games. |
| Robin Lehner |  | Still hurt. |
| Defensemen | ||
| Mark Borowiecki | | Decent week for Boro. |
| Cody Ceci |  | Ceci-Wiercioch got walked against the Rangers and the Penguins. |
| Jared Cowen | | Scratched all week. |
| Eric Gryba | | Not a great week for Gryba, but he had more points than Ceci and Wiercioch combined. |
| Erik Karlsson | | Only one assist this week. He looked tired. Hopefully a couple days off gets him ready for a playoff series with the Habs. |
| Marc Methot | | Best possession player against the Flyers, capped with a beautiful assist on the game-winning goal. Rest of his week was sub-average though. |
| Chris Phillips | | Still hurt |
| Patrick Wiercioch | | Ceci-Wiercioch got walked against the Rangers and the Penguins. |
| Forwards | ||
| Alex Chiasson | | Up-and-down week for Chiasson: best possession player against New York, third-best against Pittsburgh, second-worst against Philly. |
| Erik Condra | | Pretty average week for Condra. |
| Colin Greening | | Scratched all week. |
| Mike Hoffman | | Only one goal all week, but what a goal it was, tying the game against the Penguins. Also got his spot back on the top six. |
| Curtis Lazar | | Two assists this week, even when Condra wasn't producing. |
| David Legwand | | Legwand was great in his role two out of three games this week. That's what I expect of him. |
| Clarke MacArthur | | Four points this week. He looks like a natural fit with Turris and Stone. |
| Milan Michalek | | Heard nothing about a timeline for his return. |
| Chris Neil | | Took warmups with the team this week. We could see him show up in the playoffs. |
| Jean-Gabriel Pageau | | Three goals through three games this week. Great week for a guy who always grabs the headlines when the Sens play the Habs. |
| Matt Puempel | | Injured for the rest of the season. |
| Bobby Ryan | | No points for Ryan this week. He really does look hurt out there. |
| Zack Smith | | See Biggest Losses |
| Mark Stone | | See Biggest Gains |
| Kyle Turris | | Four points for Turris this week. It's fantastic to see his line heating up in time for the playoffs. |
| Mika Zibanejad | | One assist for Mika this week, a great backhand to set up Hoffman for the game-tying goal against Pittsburgh. Looks like his numbers are down because of whatever's hurting Ryan. |
Special thanks to our friend winterion at Japers' Rink for our icons!