Here kid…happy birthday you said you wanted a coyote…here’s a drawing of a coyote…now leave daddy alone, daddy’s drinkin.

Bobby Ryan is Struggling…to hear what h8rz are saying with his 4 points in his last 3 games….plugging his earz
Well, this whole thing changed in a jiffy. Hopefully Bobby Ryan becomes a metaphor for Ottawa’s season. Put in a tough situation x excitement + expectations = slightly premature shortness of breath.
Ryan has scored a series of beauties and as a fan I am happy to come away from this roadie having witnessed some dirty, disgusting snipes from Ryan and some positively stellar goaltending from Robin Lehner. Ryan has gone from the forward most worried about to one of the most productive. Funny that. And Lehner? Well, backup goalies don’t tend to put up save percentages over .940 when facing over 40 shots in back to back games. Future starters do.
Though I am trying to be patient and everything, as Varada pointed out in his previous post, any possession team worth it’s salt can’t be surrendering nearly 50 shots per game. Speaking of nearly 50 shots per game…uhh can we please win one for the goddamn Gipper up in this piece? I mean you’ve got goalies who are in several cases stopping over 20 shots IN A PERIOD for you. They need some support! They (esp. Lehner) are making scores like 4-1 losses look flattering…

Simplify. These are supposed to be road games!
Y’ever go to see some dumb game at the Paladium Corel Centre Scotiabank Place Canadian Tire Centre and the team Ottawa is playing just wont stop using this stingy defensive trap strategy waiting for the Sens to show off a little for the home fans one too many times and next thing you know they capitalize on a botched fancy play and boom it’s 1-0 for the bad guys and they just trap up again. You have? You know why, right? BECAUSE THAT’S HOW TEAMS PLAY ON GRUELLING ROAD TRIPS!
The roster can change over they years, the coach can change but it seems a constant to the Ottawa Senators that they get caught up in these ‘one too many passes’ type plays. Their passes keep getting broken up and boom back to the defensive zone where the team has been weakest so far. Makes sense they aren’t winning. With Karlsson, Wiercioch, Corvo, Ryan, MacArthur, Michalek…there’s enough shooters out there. Just get them on net.

More like ASSociate Captains
If Neil and Phillips are guys that are supposed to lead by example then there is no word to describe the job they are doing so far…so I’m going to make one up now, “Yeashtfurlap.” As I was saying, if these guys are supposed be leading by example the young guys must be learning heaps about the ancient art of being unreliable. That’s right, Phillips less reliable than Joe Corvo. These two need to turn it around in a serious way. At a combined salary of $5MM and wearing letters…you have to uhh….not be two of the worst players on the team. Contract year Philly, contract year. Neil…uh…..signed through 2016? YEASHTFURLAP. Ugh…moving forward. 

When this roadie concludes, let me be the first to welcome Mikail Zibanachev, General Secretary of Actually Being a Top 6 Player! 
Okay, well, I think it’s about time to rest the case of DaCosta vs. The NHL. I’m not trying to scapegoat the guy but with Spezza back and looking…kind of better(?) and Turris playing quite well, DaCosta is not really doing anything for the team. On the REALreal, we’re talking about a guy who’s supposed to be a top six or bust type guy right? Okay, 40 games, 7 points, -12, time to send him back to the AHL. He’s had an audition that has safeguarded his passing through waivers unclaimed. Trust me, type “Stephane DaCosta” into The Youtube (a video sharing website) the top returns are him him getting hit very hard by a caveman, a mix of Merrimac stuff, Binghamton stuff and a light smattering of NHL stuff (none of it from this season). Teams are not tripping over each other for this guy right now. That’s okay! Murray did not even so much as give up a pick for him. Send him back down after tonight’s game and let Stepha Get His Groove Back. He could always get on a roll in the A and get another call up later in the year. The brass felt Mika needed a lesson taught to him for maybe not playing up to potential in camp. That’s cool. Running a hockey team. Mika played well in MacLean’s system last season and that’s better than DaCosta can say. Now with Pageau getting stapled to the bench last game, let’s bring Mika back, hm’ka-iy?. I’m not saying he’s the answer but I think Ottawa looks like they need his help right now.

Mamma I’m comin’ home
Can you tell I’m pumped for this game? I’ve basically just talked about what stuff that might happen after it. THANKS FOR READING!
When you think about it, it has been a couple of years since we’ve seen a Southwesterly road trip. These things are typically murderous but slightly easier to take when they occur during the dog danglin’ days of December or January when you’ve seen the team go on some winning streaks and losing streaks. We knew in the summer when the schedule was released that this would be a really, really tough way to start the year. I think what I didn’t anticipate was how without much of a precursor other than preseason leading up to it, it gives the impression that this is the only Ottawa Senators we’ll see this year. I think we all know that’s not true so I am very glad to see it end. On the bright side, despite getting killed a couple of times, a win tonight would send the Senators back to Ottawa with a barely deserved 2-2-2 record. Something of a clean slate to return with. C’mon fellas, game starts at 10:00pm here…trap up, win a dirty boring one and come back to our loving arms. 

Worlds Done Collided Video of the Day: