Sens begin to regain form

They’ve stopped wringing their hands in Ottawa, the on line petition to remove the tandem of Muckler and Murray has probably seen the last of the hits and instead of wondering what’s wrong with the Senators, fans are instead recounting the scoring stats of a suddenly resurgent hockey team.

Quietly and with little fanfare, the Sens have climbed back above the .500 mark, with a number of convincing wins over the last couple of weeks. The latest victory was a 6-0 drubbing Wednesday night, of their former coach Jacques Martin and his Florida Panthers. The win improves the Sens record on the season to 13-12- 1 and marks the sixth win in the last seven games, putting to rest the horrid start of the season and the accompanying panic that seemed to greet it.

The game was a strong reminder to the Scotiabank Place crowd of just how dominant the Sens can be when they are on their game. They controlled the play of the game from the drop of the puck to the final horn at the end of the game. In between they featured the talents of Dany Heatley who has brought his game back to a level that the fans are more familiar with. Heatley scored two goals and picked up an assist in the 6-0 shutout, other markers for Ottawa were Andrej Meszaros and Chris Kelly who each had a goal and an assist. Mike Fisher, picked up a shorthanded goal, and Antoine Vermette rounded out the Sens scoring. Ray Emery was in the nets again for the Sens, stopping all 31 Panther shots and securing the first shut out of the Season for the Sens, and the fourth of his career.

The on ice success should go a long way to settling down the panic stricken faithful of the capital, who had many strange ideas to make the team better including trading away their captain.

Now with the Senators back on the winning track, perhaps all of that disruptive chatter can come to an end. It was only a matter of time before a talented squad like Ottawa got things back together. Now begins the climb back up the Eastern Conference ladder towards a spot that Ottawa fans are more comfortable with.