On Wednesday the Sens played what might have been the most boring game ever against New Jersey. There was a total of 10 shots on goal in the entire third period. They ended up going to overtime tied 2-2, with the Devils eventually winning after a sleep-inducing extra couple of minutes. Only the Devils could make overtime so excruciatingly dull.

Yesterday, they lost 3-2 to the Devils in regulation. I have threatened it before, but yesterday it actually happened: the Sens drove me to drink. I came thisclose to turning off the game, and it takes a lot for me even to think about doing that. They are on my very last nerve! I don’t care that they’re losing. Really, I have been a fan for a long time and am used to that. It’s the continuous poor effort that gets to me. I now go into games expecting them to lose, and when they do I pretty much just shrug.

The saddest thing is that I still love them, and they can win me back just by playing one good game. And then I will be pissed off again when they don’t follow it with another. It’s a vicious cycle.

The NHL trade deadline approaches and the Sens made a deal today! The trade:

To Carolina: Joe Corvo and Patrick Eaves
To Ottawa: Mike Commodore and Cory Stillman

I am fully okay with losing Eaves. He’s been injured so much over the last year that I barely remember he exists most of the time. Corvo is a bit more of a loss at the moment. I’d have liked to keep him, but he and Wade Redden are very similar players and I think having both of them was actually hurting the team. Keeping Corvo would very much have been my preference especially given that Redden will most likely leave Ottawa at the end of this season, but Redden wouldn’t waive his no trade clause; therefore, Corvo was the odd man out. Too bad, but that’s the way the cookie crumbles when you give Wade Redden a no trade clause.

I don’t know too much about Stillman, but he might provide the secondary scoring the Sens have been looking for. Commodore I’m a little more familiar with, and I think he’s a good addition. He’s a defensive defenceman, which means that this trade has filled two of the three needs — scoring forward, defensive defenceman, and goalie — that the Sens had identified. Stillman and Commodore both also have lots of playoff experience, and have both won the Cup. Plus, look at Commodore’s hair:

You can’t go wrong when you’ve got Red Afro Guy on yout team. I hope.

The heat is back on: two goals, one assist for the Heater in his most triumphant return! Even better, the Sens actually won the game 5-4. It wasn’t a brilliant performance by the team overall, but a win is a win right now.

Today being Hockey Day in Canada, normally all six Canadian NHL teams would play other Canadian NHL teams and the CBC would show all three games; however, because the Northeast and Northwest divisions do not meet each other this season and none of the Flames, Oilers, and Canucks plays the Sens, Leafs, or Habs even once this season, that can’t happen. Instead we got Detroit playing Toronto for the early game, Vancouver playing Colorado in the late game, and for some reason the only two all-Canadian matchups of the day — Edmonton vs. Calgary and Ottawa vs. Montreal — were at the exact same time. Thanks, NHL.

This was unfortunate scheduling, especially for me because CBC of course opted to show Calgary and Edmonton in the Vancouver region and I had to watch the online stream of the Sens game on my computer. Still, I was feeling good before the game because Alfie came back today and the big three were at last reunited! This realignment of the stars had disastrous consequences for the Habs: Spezza scored two goals in the first two minutes and then Alfie got another. With the Sens up 3-0 with only 6 minutes gone in the first, I was praying to the hockey gods that they could hold the lead.

They did, and even better, they added to it. Final score: Ottawa 6, Montreal 1. Spezza: 3 goals, 3 assists (moves up to 4th in the league in scoring). Alfredsson: 2 goals, 3 assists (13 points in his last 3 games, and after tonight he is now back to being tied for the league scoring lead). Heatley: 1 goal, 3 assists (7 points in 2 games since returning from injury). Big line total: 15 points. Emery: 33 saves, in what I think must have been one of the best goaltending performances for the team all season. If he can keep it up, I’ll be able to stop hating the goalies and demanding that they both be traded for a bag of pucks.

The team was also a bit lucky in that Montreal had about 4 or 5 shots go off the goalposts, but I tend to think puck luck is a good sign and might mean things are going to turn around now. I hope so anyway. For now, the Sens are back on my good side. I can put a hold on my fan breakdown, stop staring at that bottle of Jack Daniel’s, and regain my normal sunny disposition.

But back to the big line. They’re just so ridiculously good when they’re on, those three, clicking, like they were born to play together. And not one of them has a contract that expires before 2012. Score! Amusing fact: Spezza had a total of 13:37 minutes of icetime. He is truly an elite player. Hahahahaha … ahem. This was his first ever hat trick, and he was extremely happy about it. I saw him in post-game interviews and he was absolutely beaming.

I was following the game in class yesterday, and it was 1-0 Sens when I left and from what I could guess they were playing well. By the time I walked back home after my class ended, which took about 10 minutes, it was 2-1 Montreal. DAMMIT SENS. It ended up as a 4-3 loss for Ottawa.

My impending total nervous fan collapse tempts me to say we should just forfeit the rest of the season, but … at last! Some good news: Heatley to return tomorrow. I am doing the dance of joy! It just hasn’t been the same without him. 11 games since he got injured and the Sens were 3-8. Also, I just personally missed him.

They said he’d be out 4-6 weeks but he’s made it back in just under 4 if he does play tomorrow. Superhuman abilities, I tell you.

The Canadiens lost yesterday, which means the Sens have been given an extra few days in first place, through no merit of their own. They had a team meeting this morning and they came out of it spouting all the usual cliches — “Oh yeah, we’ve got to start playing better blah blah.” I seriously doubt we’ll ever see evidence of this on the ice. If I were Paddock, I would just put the standings up on the locker room wall. That should be motivation enough for anyone, even the Sens.

All this is causing me to have a serious fan meltdown. I feel like I need to have alcohol on hand when I listen to the game tomorrow so I can numb myself. The Sens are on the verge of driving me to drink! I hope they’re proud of themselves.