If I didn’t know any better, I would say the Senators are so hot right now that you might find planets orbiting around them.   After securing their 9^th victory in a row on Saturday night against the Montreal Canadiens, there’s a nervous tension engulfing Canada’s Capital.  Part of that tension is from knowing that the team will lose a game eventually and come back down to Earth; part is from wondering – on the heels of this streak – how good can this team become?

Apart from Pascale LeClaire (concussion), Jesse Winchester (knee) and Nick Foligno (broken leg) the Senators are finally healthy and they’re making Bryan Murray look good in the process!  While three weeks ago, all the talk was about who to fire and who to buyout, the tune has changed to how deep will the Sens go in the playoffs and what kind of dress Carrie Underwood will wear at the wedding… will it be a two-piece or a corset dress – who knows?

The real issue looming in the foreground is the impending return of supposed Number 1 goaltender Pascale LeClaire.  The reason I say “supposed” is because while his salary is the highest of the three netminders to have featured for the Sens this year, it’s the only part that goes along with a true Number 1 status.  LeClaire’s play has been unremarkable, to say the least, with some dreadful performances speckled in between.  To date, LeClaire has played in 26 games with 11 wins.  His goals-against average is 3.07 and his save percentage is .890.

It’s going to be a tough sell for Cory Clouston to convince anyone, including himself, that LeClaire deserves his starting job back and I worry that his reintroduction will bring back some bad memories for the players.  Given the team’s current form, I don’t see that there’s anyway Clouston can deviate from Brian Elliot until he has a serious hiccup in his game.