What you've missed

The Ottawa Senators had a solid week and shored up their spot amongst the top 8 teams in the East. They took 3 wins from the 4 on offer, dropping a mid-week decision to Colorado, but coming out successful against the Islanders in OT the next night. The Sens also picked up important points against Montreal and Philadelphia.

There have been signs of a spark for a while now, but Alex Kovalev broke his goal-scoring drought in emphatic fashion Sunday, scoring 4 goals and looking every bit a player earning his salary. But the ever anemic powerplay continues to leak oil. Ottawa are 2nd last in the league with the man advantage, converting on just 14.9% of chances (the last team in the league? Shockingly, it's Pittsburgh at 14.4%). What (or who) does the organisation turn to when trying to break this monumental slump?

In other games around the league:

- Vancouver had a very important week on the road before holing up at home heading into the Olympics. And they came out strong, picking up 7 of 8 points doing the West conference rounds of Calgary, Phoenix, St Louis and Dallas.

- When the offense isn't scoring, Buffalo haven't needed to panic this season due to the lights-out play of Ryan Miller. And that trend continued as the Sabres needed just one to walk out of Montreal winners Sunday. That stretches their win streak to 4 and they are well and truly in charge of the North-East Division.

- St Louis continued to feel the blues this week. The weekend firing of Andy Murray was somewhat expected, but is it too late? They continue to play terrible hockey at home - all 4 games this week at home, and 4 losses (1 in OT). But their road record is an impressive 11-4-3. A statistical head-scratcher for sure.

What's coming up?

Ottawa have another 4 games coming up this week, starting with divisional rivals Boston at Scotiabank Place (Tues, 7:30pm, Sportsnet). Then the Sens travel Thursday to meet Washington (7pm, TSN). And to round out the week, they host Florida (Sat, 7pm, CBC) and fly out to Carolina (Sun, 5pm, Sportsnet).

Luckily, there are no new injuries to report on. Daniel Alfredsson should be out the rest of the month, while Jason Spezza may be back a week or two earlier.

Obviously games within the division hold extra importance, but even more so this week as the Bruins and Sens are separated by just 1 point. The Habs sit a further 3 points behind. Boston (and more specifically, Tim Thomas) have been one of the Sens curses this year, and they will need a big effort for the 2 points. Alex Kovalev's heroics were impressive, but the last time he scored was his last hat trick. Ottawa could sure use that intensity every game. And after a red-hot start, Milan Michalek has dropped off the radar screen. His play has really suffered in Jason Spezza's absence, but 1 goal in the last 17 games simply isn't good enough for a top 6 forward.

In other games this week:

- Pittsburgh will look to end their recent slide (they lost all 5 games last week) with games against Atlanta, Philly and Toronto. Is this just mid-season complacency or a case of the Stanley Cup hangover?

- Colorado have continued to surprise all comers this season, but their schedule isn't doing them any favours this week. 3 games in 5 days sees the Avs host the Islanders, then go on the road for back to back games against Buffalo and Carolina. They need the points this week to prevent red-hot Calgary (who have won 4 in a row) from taking their spot at the top of the North-West.

- Ever the quiet achievers, Nashville have turned around a poor start to the season and find themselves firmly entrenched in the West playoff race. They will look to pounce on a 3 game home stand this week, with visits from Calgary, Carolina and Anaheim.

Who's hot?

- Patrick Kane (Chicago) has 21 points in the past 14 games, and has been held pointless only once in that stretch.

- Ilya Kovalchuk (Atlanta) has 8 goals and 16 points in the last 10 games.

- Tim Thomas (Boston) has really started to hit his stride. In his last 5 games he boasts 1 shutout, a 1.60 GAA and a 0.940 save percentage.

Who's not?

- Ondrej Pavelec (Atlanta) continues to struggle mightily in goal. In his 4 most recent starts, he has a 6.21 GAA and a 0.840 save percentage.

- Alexandre Picard (Ottawa) has been a healthy scratch the past 2 games, and had not scored in the 6 games prior to that. He is a combined -5 in that stretch.

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EXCELLENT READ MATTY!

I mean Matt!

Good job man hopefully Ottawa can continue their stretch.

Tomorrow marks the day i see my friend again

As i mentioned before he is a gigantic Avs fan and i am a gigantic Sens fan and the sens loss shall impact the entire school lol.

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Thanks for the Updates!! They are great when you miss lots of games.... grrrr night shifts!!

So thanks a tonne!

Matty, you did a great job yet again .

I know you make me read these every time you write them out, but you're definitely skilled and make it easy to digest within 5 minutes or so.

Kudos hun.

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good job, as usual.

Awww

Great job Matt

Pretty sappy huh. Well he asked for it! He was like a little kid tugging at my shirt practically. He gets so excited and wants me to read them right away!
At least I get to watch my girly movies while he is on the laptop writing his previews out....

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Awww that's SO cute!!!

he just wanted to see your boobs

LOL

Matt's probably blushing

Oi!

What I choose to do with my Mrs' boobs is none of your concern, bud.

I don't believe there is a wedding ring yet! When are you gonna make her an honest woman, and finally push the twin beds together?

LMAO!!! No, you've got it all wrong. He sleeps on the couch!

And well as for a wedding date... MTA wants to go down to city hall and just sign the papers. He keeps talking about going to Sobeys and buying a sponge cake and putting that frosting in a can on it. I'm a bit nervous!!

Actually, we're not sure yet where or when. We were considering doing it in Australia but then again we may do it here or like in the Dominican or something.. eek I don't know!

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Think of how much money we would save!

Did I miss something? You two are actually a couple? I thought that was a joke...

LMFAO!

They are really engaged

Perhaps it is......


I'm just playin'. No we really are a couple.. and engaged..

OK, but you guys did pretend to NOT be a couple then, right?

That brings the TSF couples count up to 4:

Skippy + Creamcheeze
JoshLind + Kiwii
Alfie11 + Spezza'sGirl
Matt the Aussie + got 2B kd

Now Goose needs to get her husband on here, 13 needs to get his wife, and everyone else needs to get their partners on here too. Then again, maybe that ISN'T such a good idea...

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Hmm I don't think we pretended not to be.. we never mentioned it though for a while. I think everyone found out when it was my birthday and MTA wrote something about his girlfriends b-day. I'm not sure exactly, but ya.

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Well...


And then you guys talk like this:


Now tell me it doesn't seem like you guys were deliberately keeping it a secret, if not outright TRYING to confuse us...