by Bonk's Mullet (with images from Kevin and Gains)









"La la laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" It's been a cold few months in Ottawa. After losing twice in a row to Vancouver and Detroit, negativity was running wild. Sens fans started to turn on their father figures, MacLean and Murray, as well as their star players in Karlsson, Spezza, and Anderson. So, Ottawa did what any family does when things get dire. "Honey, we're going to Florida!"

A sliver of sunshine remained in the capital. Going into tonight's game, the playoff gap between Ottawa and Toronto was only 7 points. With an inevitable Sharks win over Toronto tonight (spoiler: it happened), Ottawa could narrow the gap to one "Chris Neil front tooth", which translates to 5 points on the NHL scale.





But tonight was a must-win division rivalry game, so clearly the stakes were high!

Here's what the start of the #Sens at #FlaPanthers looked like on Tuesday pic.twitter.com/enkdjqi3c3

— George Richards (@GeorgeRichards) December 4, 2013

According to StubHub, you can sit five rows up on center ice (Sec. 118) for #FlaPanthers v #Sens for just $9.50 per. One section over: $8.50

— George Richards (@GeorgeRichards) December 4, 2013

Okay, so the stakes were valued at $8.50. But the game was still important for Ottawa! Here was our photoshop game preview if you missed it.

1st Period

Early in the first, Denis Potvin tells us a story about how he met up with the ice maker before the game. Denis asked how the ice was tonight. The ice maker responded, "cold." ...okay.

After penalties from Hoffman and Spezza put the Panthers up 5-on-3, Huberdeau scores five hole on Craig Anderson. 1-0 Panthers. I'll give Anderson a break on this one as he was probably distracted by all of his wonderful memories in Florida: "I'd love to Huber-d'ose." - Least appropriate joke ever made on BonksMullet.com The Senators get comfortable and settled in at the 8:22 mark when Brian Campbell finally puts them down 2-0.

With that second Panthers goal, the Panthers' PA announcer delivered the good news that every fan in attendance tonight will go home with a Panthers goal puck. Neat!

With Paul MacLean going with Condra-Spezza-MacArthur as the first line, fans started to wonder if the coach was simply using EA Sports' "best lines" feature. Our very own Kevin Lee thought up some line combinations of his own... Or at least one in particular.

But they don't hand out the Jack Adams for nothin'. Off a Spezza faceoff win, MacArthur retrieves the puck behind the net and gets it back to Joe Corvo at the point. Much like with Obama's long form birth certificate, Tim Thomas is still waiting to see that shot. 2-1 Panthers

With just over a minute to go in the first period, Erik Condra knocks one in off of a feed from Jason Spezza. 2-2 game. Florida fans are disgusted with their team's effort: Clearly not a fan of Corvettes. 2nd Period

After being less than impressed about what his mother apparently did last night, Brian Campbell took an elbowing penalty to Conacher's face at the end of the first to give the Sens an early powerplay in the second, which they failed to score on.

In defense of the Ottawa Senators practising hot yoga, Dean Brown used the word "suppleness" in the broadcast. We all know what he was trying to say: suppleness > truculence

— Chet Sellers (@chet_sellers) December 4, 2013

After Anderson made up for dozens of Senators turnovers, we fulfill our nightly quota of Jared Cowen getting chewed out by an Ottawa goaltender as we cut to commercial.

It was unveiled on-air that Denis Potvin is a germophobe, making it appropriate that he chose a profession in which you wear gloves.

Colin Greening makes his case for the striker position of the Ottawa Fury FC.

The league took a look at a second angle on the play, and after seeing it ourselves, we're honestly surprised the goal stood. The frosted tips should have given it away, but the replay was deemed inconclusive. (By Capital Gains) 3-2 Sens after two! Let's beat a dead horse during the intermission: "Ha! It's like the joke they made before but it moves!" (By Kevin) 3rd Period

In what seems like a nightly occurrence now, Upshall ran into Anderson, causing him to fall to the ice. The following Sens PP did its best Anderson impression in that it also flopped.

Nothing happened for a while other than Dean Brown talking about Barry Manilow, so I apologize for falling asleep.

During my nap, I had a horrible dream that Jared Cowen walked in down the wing and made a perfect tape-to-tape pass to Ryan who one-timed it in five hole on Thomas. Update: I've just been alerted this was not a nightmare and was in fact reality. 4-2 Sens

The attendance in Florida was announced at 10,072. If we're playing that game, I would like to announce that I have 10,072 girlfriends and 10,072 Ferraris. Closing Thoughts

The Sens's depth players like Corvo, Greening, and Condra looked like kids in a candy shop as they took advantage of a weak Florida opponent tonight and brought them down 4-2 the final.



