you kids dont know about REAL blues. Probably.

Hello there Sens fans,

And… how are we feeling about our favorite little team this week? Really really good or really, really, really great? Good, good. Me? Oh thanks for asking. That’s how reading a blog works right? We’re having a conversation through satellite dishes made of wishes. So let me tell you how I’m feeling, because let’s face it, this is really mostly about me and my feelings…to quote my old Grandpappy, “I’m sick brah, whatevs….I’m like…over it and shit.” Heh heh…oh Grandpappy Sklyar. He had a funny way. Whenever he’d say something like that he would always brush his bangs out of his face (he hated when they touched his lip ring) and would adjust his Monster Energy Drink baseball cap juuuust so. Sigh. He’s playing that big Nintendo DS in the Sky (Skymall, he’s just at a mall called the Skymall right now)

Anyway, we’re all in a weird place EMOTIONALLY right now, aren’t we? We don’t know whether we’re supposed to be bummed out because our previously very fun to watch team has become LESS THAN SO MUCH FUN TO WATCH or shrug it off Grandpappy Skylar style all, “We were spoiled early on but this actually what rebuilding is all about, so onward and downward!” I wish I had answers for you there, puppy. I really do. Just kidding I’m a complete jerk who thinks they have all the answers! Imagineer with me!

When a team is mired in a six game losing streak in this work a day world, there are a lot of faces to stick one’s big, stupid blame fingers in. Let’s now do that together. Goaltending has been sub par and in connection with that, much of Ottawa’s D corps has looked sluggish and even a touch soft on plays. Okay, well that just about wraps it up for the Sens troubles moving on— oops! Not even close to all of their problems. So scoring has quite nearly stopped altogether. The surprising secondary scoring punch that I believe was winning Ottawa the majority of their games, save for a recent tally from Zack Smith against ‘nem Islanders, has pretty much completely dried up. More troubling, the essential firstondary scoring has also evaporated from the top line and top offensive D men. Want more? Okay, perhaps my biggest fear for the Senators going into the season has come to fruition, Jason Spezza appears to not be himself. Lookin a little bit hurt up in here.
Now, mind you, Spezza gets hurt pretty much every single season so you’d think we’d be used to it. He’s only played more than 70 games 3 times in his career, played the full 82 once. Now, look, this isn’t a knock on Spezz. He gets hurt playing a very intense sport for a living. I just hurt my wrist just from FALLING OVER playing on an outdoor rink last weekend (thank you for the thousands upon thousands of ‘get well’ tweets, you guys) I cant judge him.  More than a little understandable that a guy plays over 20 mins of top line NHL hockey gets banged up routinely. I just cant help but think that in situations like the current one where Spezza has an undisclosed injury (please for the love of Jah don’t be his back again) and he’s a game time decision…maybe an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of power crystals. I love his gumption. I love that he wants to go in there and help his struggling teammates but I cant help but wonder if he cant just sit a couple out and give healthy Kyle Turris a few more minutes while he heals up a bit . Spezza hasn’t put up a point in 6 games (eeep). If he’s hurt I’m not sure if he’s helping being in the lineup. As much as I think Spezza is integral to the Sens chances this season, with his history of injuries, this team is going to have to learn how to play without him. Maybe now is that time. Games are only going to get more intense.
Speaking of upcoming injuries, HEYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY Craig Anderson gets the start A-GAINNNN. So since we were talking about blame fingers (new thing?) what is happening with this, Paulrus? Is Alex Auld allowed to have a belt, shoelaces or cutlery at this point? Has he been eating and attending his art therapy sessions? I’m really worried about him/Paul MacLean’s COMPLETE lack of confidence in him. That’s going to be a really tense game when he finally does get to play. I know they’ve been really important games (THEY ALL ARE REALLY IMPORTANT NOW THAT THEY’VE LOST SIX STRAIGHT BTW) but Auld not being thrown a bone for that Islanders game really said something to this fan/level B wizard.

It doesn’t really stop there either, I gotta say, as a person who is an expert at not knowing very much about coaching it is important to voice my opinion and here it is, “Can we please put the lines back to how they were when the team was good?” I mean we’ve got Condra with Turris and Alfie, Foligno down with Neil and Smith …I keep finding Jim O’Brien’s hair in my food and he’s playing on a line with a clown ghost and porcupine on a unicycle. Sorry, I don’t know what I just wrote there. I’m a bit light headed from these hair dye fumes. IT’S CALLED MULTI TASKING. The lines got mixed up and the result was a 5-0 pounding. Strategy: Landed. Now let’s get it back to the way that was working.

Now on to the game story: Something, something Brian Elliot. St. Louis is good. Sens really have to fucking win or whatever.

Excitingish Conclusion: It’s REALLY easy to freak out in these situations. When the team looks this flat it seems like they’ll never win again. Aside from their inaugural season, that’s never the case. Yes, it’s rough when the leafs overtake our boys in the standings every few years but consider this: Who would have thought the Sens riding on the shoulders of a 6 game winless streak in February WOULD STILL BE AHEAD OF THE WARSHINGTON KAPITALS!!?!?! Now THAT’S gotta be really disappointing. Imagine Ottawa had Washington’s exact roster and was in 9^th? Damn. At least we KNOW our team is supposed to suck when they suck. I know the Sens are in tough against the Red Hot Bluesy Peppers and the Nashville Predlocks before things get a little more even Steven against Edmonton on Saturday. Does that mean that Ottawa’s going to lose two and then win one? Maybe but since Pro Line is still in business I’m going to assume that hockey is still very unpredictable game in and game out. I think this could be a very interesting week especially Saturday because I spent so much goddamn money on my ticket for that game and as such t is an absolute must win. Enjoy tonight’s game!

Remember this song friends,

The sun will probably come out, tomorrow
Bet only one of several dollars that tomorrow
There is a decent but still outside chance they’ll be sun