Break out your paper pointed goatees my friends, it’s officially the darkest timeline. With each passing week, we tell ourselves, “It can’t get much worse,” and yet with each passing week, it gets much, much worse. The Senators played three games this week, and only managed goals in one of them. They were beaten 5-0 twice in a span of seven days. Nobody’s scoring, nobody’s saving, nobody has any answers.

So with all that in mind, here are your three “not quite as bad as the rest” of the week:

Three Stars

Ryan Dzingel. His speed seemed to complement Matt Duchene well, and he scored the first meaningful goal for the Senators in a week Wednesday against the Kings. He also put seven shots on goal in that game. And in the next game, when things were very finished, he dropped the gloves. Not only is this guy fast and skilled, he seems to give his all every single shift he’s on the ice. Matt Duchene. He put up two points against the Kings, and seems to slowly be creeping his way up to de facto top-line centre. Of course, doing that for a team in the middle of a 1-for-12 stretch isn’t all that impressive, but he’s still looking better than most of the team. Mike Condon. Notice that all these stars come from the L.A. game? After an atrocious outing against Winnipeg, he looked fine against L.A. Ottawa wouldn’t have stuck around in that game without him in net. But still, four goals against is never great.

Trending Up

Fans at the Canadian Tire Centre got to see a hometown team win for the first time in what feels like ages, with Rachel Homan’s rink clinching their spot as Canada’s representative in women’s curling at the Olympics

Trending Down

I don’t have time to list everyone here, but here are some notable slumpers: