For about two and a half minutes of the third period, it looked like the Sens were going to steal two points from a strong home ice team but it wasn't meant to be.
The Dallas Stars, who were quiet most of the night, rallied with two third period goals from Radek Dvorak and Eric Nystrom and stole two points away from the Ottawa Senators. The loss drops the Sens to 12-11-2 on the season.
When Milan Michalek buried his 15th with under nine minutes to play, it looked like the Sens were in good shape. But the Dallas Stars refused to quit and were able to score a couple of quick ones with some hard work shifts that had the Sens running around in their own end.
Ottawa played a decent road game and did a nice job limiting the number of chances until giving up 19 shots in the final frame. It was an ugly game but the Sens likely deserved a better fate. Michalek and Alfredsson both had great chances to tie this one in the dying seconds but Raycroft made a couple of big stops to preserve the win for Dallas.
Filip Kuba has played some important minutes for the Ottawa Senators this year so his absence was obviously a big one. Brian Lee took his spot in the line up but Kuba's minutes were shared throughout the six blueliners and in the end it may have been those extra minutes that cost the Sens.
Erik Karlsson (23:51) and Chris Phillips (24:47) got caught on a long shift with the game tied at two and Eric Nystrom was able to fire one past Craig Anderson that would go down at the GWG.
The good news is Jared Cowen seemed to thrive in an elevated role. He finished the game with 22:21, +2, five hits and an assist. Cowen has played third pairing minutes all season but he looked like a player that is ready to handle some increased responsibility.
The Senators are next in action on Saturday when they close out the three game road trip against a struggling Washington Capitals team. The Caps fell on home ice at the hands of Crosby and the Pens and are now 0-2 under new head coach Dale Hunter.
- Allan Walsh, agent of Jackets forward Derick Brassard, released a statement tonight and it's pretty clear that Brassard's time in Columbus is running out. The Sens have been interested in Brassard for quite some time but I've been told that right now anyway, the contract is an issue. We'll see if anything changes on that front tomorrow.
