Not a good way to start an update but the Ottawa Senators went so far of the rails that they were in danger of getting lost in the race for the playoffs. Yes even this early in the season it is essential for us to get those wins. So far it has been an up & down season for the Sens and we need more wins.

The emotional strain of the death of former Senator & current Assistant Coach Luke Richardson’s daughter played heavily on the minds of the franchise. On the 15th the Sens traveled to Philadelphia and lost heavily to the Flyer, 1-5. Jason Spezza scored the lone goal for Ottawa. If you think that was just a bump, worse was to come! The Sens lost so heavily to Carolina in an embarrassing 1-7 loss to the Hurricanes. The one-sided outcome provided a difficult conclusion to an emotionally draining day for the Senators. The team delayed its trip to attend a memorial service earlier in the day in Ottawa for Daron Richardson, the 14-year-old daughter of Luke, who took her own life on Friday. The Senators didn’t arrive in Raleigh until Wednesday afternoon.

That was followed by a trip to St.Louis and a 2-5 loss to the Blues, losing for the fourth time in five games. Mike Fisher & Jesse Winchester scored for the Senators. Perhaps a return home will do the Senators a load of good. And that it did – the Scotiabank Place scoreboard clock fittingly read “10:00” as Alex Kovalev celebrated a stick-shattering goal that delivered his 1,000th point. Kovalev got his milestone point when he scored on a power play midway through the first period and assisted on Spezza’s go-ahead goal in the third for his 1,001st point to send the Ottawa Senators to a 3-2 win over the Los Angeles Kings on Monday night. Milan Michalek also scored a goal. He joined Sergei Fedorov and Alexander Mogilny as the third Russian player to reach the milestone.