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“It’s important for us not to lose our confidence and move on. One thing I know is Mike’s not going to lose his confidence. He’s won everywhere he’s gone. It’s a glitch in a situation — they decided he was the fall guy — and he’s going to move on. As coaches we know how tough it is, the thing that we do well, and I appreciated it when it was my time, is we support each other extremely well.”

Smith didn’t have much interaction with Keefe, but they did room together while in the minors with Hershey in the American Hockey League.

“I didn’t work a ton with Sheldon,” Smith said. “He’s a very good guy, smart hockey man, he went to the Marlies and he’s certainly proved that he’s well-deserving and he’s one of the better up-and-coming coaches. He’s done everything you can do in the American league. The players that come up under him have been very detailed and he’s done a very good job.”

THIS N’ THAT

Coming off a victory in Motown, Anders Nilsson is 5-1-0 in his past six games with a 2.15 goals-against average and a .935 save percentage. His only loss came when he allowed four goals on 19 shots before being pulled during an 8-2 loss in Carolina on Nov. 11. “I’ve had a little bit too much up and down,” Nilsson said after the win in Detroit. “I want to play more consistent than I have in the first 11 games. It’s something I’m working on and I’m working for that every day. I’m not satisfied. I still feel like, me personally, I have a lot of room for improvement and I’m working hard to get better every day. That’s my mindset.” … Tough call for Logan Brown on Tuesday in Detroit when he appeared to score his first NHL goal in the first and then had it taken away because of goalie interference. He suited up for his 14th game with Ottawa against the Habs and, unfortunately, was still looking for his first career goal going into this one. “He always makes plays,” Smith said. “There’s going to be nights where other teams are going to put their top guys out against him and his minutes will be limited a little bit but, in time, he’s going to be able to play against anybody.” … This was Ron Hainsey’s 39th career game against the Habs. He’s only nine away from 1,100 in his career and he was drafted by Montreal No. 13 overall in 2000. With a hat-tip to Chris Moore from the Senators’ public relations department for this note, Hainsey has played more games than only two other players taken that year: Scott Hartnell (1,249) and Justin Williams (1,244)

THE LAST WORDS

Los Angeles Kings scout Mark Osborne was on the scouting list at Ottawa’s game in Buffalo on Saturday, Detroit on Tuesday and Montreal. The two teams don’t play again until mid-March.

bgarrioch@postmedia.com

Twitter: @sungarrioch

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