It was another case of former Senators players coming back to haunt their former team. Early on it was former goalie (for a cup of coffee anyway) Curtis McElhinney that duelled save for save with Robin Lehner, and then later on it was Nick Foligno that double the Jackets' 1-0 lead to an insurmountable 2-0 margin. After Erik Condra brought the Sens back within a goal shortly after Foligno's tally, Columbus scored an empty netter and then added a final nail in the coffin with 12 seconds left as the Senators turned a close and pretty even game into what looked more lopsided than the final 4-1 score would indicate.

And once again, the Senators had their chances....Mark Stone was...well...stoned a couple of times by McElhinney and Kyle Turris had 24 square feet of net to shoot at and fired it off the post with authority. Mike Hoffman on a partial breakaway where he inexplicably stopped up to turn a 1 on 0 into a 2 on 1 and the Sens didn't even get a shot.

While frustrating, and after the game every player in the dressing room scrums were visibly frustrated themselves, that is what happens in a slump when you start to grip your sticks too tight. Lehner hasn't got much in the way of goal support, with just 1 goal for in each of the last three games.

From Lehner's standpoint, he held the fort as long as he could, until a couple of errors by the pairing of Cody Ceci and Jared Cowen within 3 shifts. On the first goal by Matt Calvert, Ceci was focused on the puck at the edge of the crease instead of playing his man, allowing Clavert to chip a rebound past Lehner. Then on Foligno's goal, Ceci tried to hold the line and failed, but Cowen also failed to back him up and was nowhere to be seen on the backcheck as Foligno tucked it through Lehenr's legs. I have backed Cowen through a lot of errors (perceived and otherwise) and have thought that in many instances that he often carried too much of the burden, but watching him coast back on that play was aggravating when he could have had the angle on Foligno with a little effort.

That being said, if Lehner is able to make the stop it wouldn't be as much of an issue, because there was a very similar situation earlier in the period where Erik Karlsson had a similar lackadaisical backcheck. The difference was, Lehner made the stop and kicked the rebound right into the slot...onto the stick of Karlsson who turned it up the ice. Same effort, different result and nobody talks about the Karlsson one.

The Senators' power play, which is 0 for its last 18 and just 2 for its last 30, has gone stone gold again and it is game changing. They had 2 first period opportunities and failed to captialize on either of them. Even if they score on 3 of those last 18 chances (which would still be a rather pedestrian 16.7% in that time) the last three games might have had different results, because all three were essentially 1 goal games (although the last 75 seconds of Saturday's game turned it into a 3 goal game.

Stone was easily the best Ottawa Senator on the ice, and as coach Dave Cameron pointed out after the game, his -4 was very misleading.

The best and most consistent line from where I sat was actually the 4th line of Legwand, Neil and Condra. They got offensive zone time and were solid on the cycle and chipped in a goal. Neil also got in a scrap, and with the trade rumors you have to wonder if that was the last time he drops the gloves as a Senators.

Most fans got their wish as Jean-Gabriel Pageau was in the lineup after it was suspected he was going to be a scratch, because Milan Michalek couldn't go.

There was a long stretch in the second period where the Senators were outplayed but Lehner stood his ground, but for the most part the Sens had the edge in play. They out-attempted the Blue Jackets 65-51 in all situations, but once again it seems like they have an inordinate amount of shots being blocked or simply missing the net. Thirty of those 65 attemtps didn't make it through, and although they help out the Corsi percentage I am not sure how effective that is, but I will have more on that tomorrow.

If you want a silver lining, the Blue Jackets win brings them even with Ottawa in points and actually ahead of them because of regulation wins, and Toronto's first win in a month dropped Ottawa to 26th, and would most likely see them drafting in the top 5 if the season were to end today. If that is a silver lining that you want, and I know many of you do, but that might change again as three of their next 4 games are against Buffalo, Edmonton and Carolina...three of the 4 teams actually below them in the standings. Although Carolina is playing pretty well right now and when they do meet a week from Monday, it could be Carolina who moves ahead of Ottawa in the turtle race.

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