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“We’ve got to stick to it. If we want to get respect we’ve got to earn it and I think we’re on our way but we’re not quite there yet.”

It seems as much as the Senators have shown they can win on a consistent basis, nobody seems to think they’re really a contender. Maybe it’s because they didn’t make a whole lot of changes in the off-season — with the exception of the coaching staff — or maybe people don’t think they can keep it up.

With a 19-11-3 record for 41 points in 33 games, the Senators are second in the Atlantic and four points ahead of the Boston Bruins. That’s only two points ahead of where they were with a 17-11-5 record last season but this looks different because Ottawa is playing with structure defensively.

There is no better example than the effort against the Hawks.

Yes, the Senators needed goaltender Mike Condon to save them with a huge stop on a penalty shot it the third period and a couple in the dying minutes as the Hawks tried to charge back, but they didn’t give Chicago much in the way of chances.

“We’re playing hard and we know what we have to do (that) to be successful and the style that we have to play,” said defenceman Dion Phaneuf. “When we play to our system, we’re in games and we do a really good job at controlling the neutral zone which allows us to break the puck out.

“We win (Tuesday), it feels good because they’ve got a really good team but we continue to go back to work and now we go home and we’ve got to finish before the break with a real solid effort at home. The way that our team is playing, (Tuesday) we come into a tough building against a really good hockey team and we played well.