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Senators facing historic collapse

You would think that the Ottawa Senators would at least try to break out of the slump they currently find themselves in. At this point, you could almost classify this ‘slump’ as a full blown collapse. The Senators have won just one game since the Olympic break, and most likely would be winless if they had faced anyone but Edmonton. Last night, they had a chance to get back to their winning ways with a home game against the Toronto Maple Leafs who have played better of late but are far from a tough opponent at this point of the season.

Here’s what’s interesting: the only good thing to take away from last night’s 4-1 loss to Toronto has to do with two players who have been out for months. Says PeterR from Silver Seven:

Oh, look, the two guys who’ve just returned from injury; apparently they haven’t been affected by the losing their teammates have allowed to get them down. Campoli might have been the Senators best defenceman tonight, with a shot on net and a couple of hits. What he did more effectively than any of his teammates was contain the young, quick, and energetic Leafs players by forcing them to the outside and limiting their ability to get to the middle of the ice. His fellow defencemen would have benefited from following his lead (and I’m not sure I’ve ever said that about Campoli before).

Here’s the reality. The Senators had an improbable and magical winning streak that has masked their true mediocrity. The fact that Ottawa plays in the woeful Eastern Conference has also hidden just how big of an impostor the Senators truly are. If they do somehow manage to continue to fall down the standings and actually miss the playoffs, it will be near-historic but not exactly surprising. This is a team that has major scoring issues and is woefully thin on defense, and is trying to get by with Brian Elliot in goal.

No offense to Elliot.