I Guess This is the Slump

It's been so long since the Sens had a slump, I'd almost forgotten what it felt like.

But now I remember. It sucks.

A team that currently has a record of 16-4-1 is hardly worth cringing over. They're still widely-considered the elite squad of the NHL, despite the fact that they have just lost back-to-back games, the first time this has happened since December 2006, almost a full year ago.

Last night's loss was truly disappointing. It was an exciting, back-and-forth, action-packed affair with lots of scoring and numerous additional chances, but at the end of the day, the Sens blew two 2-goal leads over the Pittsburgh Penguins, and eventually lost in a shoot-out, 6-5.

Coming on the heels of a 4-2 loss to Buffalo the night before, we can now say we're on a losing skid. Add to the fact that the Sens have now lost 3 of their past 4 games, and you could say that they've completely gone in the crapper. Oh, and apparently Daniel Alfredsson, consistenly the best player for the Sens thus far this season, "tweaked" his groin at the end of last night's game. No word yet on how severe it is, or how long he might be out, but if he's out for even a couple of games, this could be disasterous.

OK, not gonna lie - I've kinda had a crappy week. I'm hoping it's just the doldrums before I hit the Christmas cheer. But perhaps my sucky mood is turning this little losing streak into something far worse than it actually is. Hopefully it's not as bad as I've already twisted it into. Maybe this is the worst string of games the lads will have all year. After all, ya can't win 'em all, right? These are the ups and downs of an NHL season, and there's still lots of hockey left to play. The Sens were bound to hit a downer eventually.

On a different note, I would like to mention that it would be nice for once to put up the $10.95 for these stupid Pay Per View games, as we did last night, and actually watch the whole thing without a technical glitch marring the purchase. It seemed last year that something went wrong in every game. Last night, between the second and third periods, after we went hunting with Mike Fisher, and were about to go grocery shopping with Gary Roberts and Mark Recchi, the picture froze, just as Roberts was leaning in to grab an organically-grown zuchinni from the produce shelf. So far the rest of the intermission, the screen was frozen at that one image, and as minutes passed by, I grew increasingly frustrated.

Just as the third period began, we returned to the action, but the feed had been changed from the Ottawa broadcast to the Pittsburgh one. To be honest, it was kind of nice to listen to someone other than Dean Brown for a while. Aside from the fact that they said the name "Ryan Malone" far too often, they were enjoyable to listen to. I was a little ticked when they switched back over to the Ottawa feed for the shoot-out.

So yeah, they lost, I was cranky, went downstairs to watch Survivor and Grey's, and then still had trouble falling asleep around midnight. That's how wound up I was over this silly little loss to the silly little Penguins.

Man, I spend too much time worrying about hockey!!