The post I was begged to write

Peace from Russia.

Following two shelackings in which they outscored T-Bay 13-6, the Ottawa Senators find themselves up 3-1 in the series and heading home with a chance to put the Lightning down like a rabid dog, one with terrible goaltending. Probably that dog from the Home Depot commercials this winter.

So one might think that Senators fans are feeling good and sitting pretty waiting to see if they will face montreal, Philly, or Buffalo in Round 2. HELL NO!! In true Ottawan fashion, if you're a true Sens fan, this is time you're most pessimistic and nervous. Putting away a team - the defending champs no less - is not Ottawa's forte despite the herculean effort Tampa would need to come back.

Of course, there is actually a lot reason to feel good about these two Ottawa wins. The team has shown more chemistry than they had over the last month of the season. It seems like the guys who were hurt - Chara, Redden, Phillips, Havlat - are finally mixing back into their roles and taking pressure off the guys who had to step up (and play above their heads). As a consequence, Ottawa's sometimes poor defensive zone play isn't as stark, because they can dominate Tampa and keep them hemmed in their own end more often. The secondary scoring provided by adding Havlat's one-on-one skills and scoring ability to otherwise mundane players like Schaeffer and Fisher (mundane in the sense that they do their job, but don't threaten anyone particularly) is crucial, as predicted last week. And Emery does his best Chris-Osgood-circa-1998 impression - making the routine saves and the occassional big one while not giving anything away. It's a good mix right now.

Looking forward the first mission obviously is to finish off the Lightning. It's important to do this at home on Saturday. I believe that if Tampa gets passed Game 5 you can write a ticket for Game 7. Ottawa doesn't need seven games, they need rest, more time to practice and gell, and possibly more time for Hasek to decide he wants to play again this season.

I'm hesitate to move on for fear of jinxing things. Let me say this: they lost a bunch of games to the Habs this year, but if Montreal gets through Carolina, who would Ottawa rather play, a Koivu-less Montreal team, or Forsberg's Philly or Briere's Buffalo?

Sorry all, but bring that Frenchman to town and stick him between the pipes at Corporate Arena in Kanata.