Storybook...

Just when the heat couldn't get any hotter on Mike Fisher, he buries one in overtime.

Are you kidding dude?

Who wrote this fucking script? George Lucas? Does Fish get the girl in the end too?

Fisher was easily the best player on the ice for both teams and could have had 4 or 5 goals with all the chances he had.

Craig Hartsburg even put him on the first power-play unit with Daniel Alfredsson on the point to try and get him going but it took a 4 on 4 situation to break him loose.

What's becoming quickly apparent is that the Senators of old - the flashy high scoring bunch who fed pizza to everyone nightly - is no more.

It's a cliche but the team is now a lunchbucket crew under Hartsburg and while it might be less exciting, it's a welcome relief to see this kind of systemic structure in Bytown, unseen since the days of Jacques "Mr. Personality" Martin.

Keeping the big line apart has paid off for Hartsburg as Antoine Vermette is starting to look good with Jason Spezza and Dany Heatley and Alfredsson is obviously playing a role in getting Fisher back on his game.

It also doesn't hurt to have the solid goaltending they're getting nightly from Alex Auld. Getting key saves late (and early) in the game seems so foreign for some reason but it's exactly what the team is getting. If Auld can even play at 80% of what he's doing now, he'll be one of the best free-agent signings in the NHL and it might even let Martin Gerber overachieve a little in a backup role.

To be honest, I'm completely shocked that Alex Ovechkin and company didn't come in and run over the Senators tonight. They were bag skated by their coach and A.O. was back in the lineup to face a team that was playing the dreaded "first game at home after a road trip". They even lost all 4 games to the Caps last year.

It didn't matter. The Sens played like they were on the road anyways, chipping pucks in, crashing the net and making safe plays.

Colour me impressed.

***

Caps coach Bruce Boudreau called the condition of the ice in Ottawa as "embarrassing", saying it's the worst ice his team has played on this season. I've heard rumblings of something similar before but I think this might be the first time it's been mentioned in such a way.

It's a story to keep an eye on...

***

I wasn't at the game tonight but I'd appreciate anyone who was there dropping a comment on whether or not the Senators theme song made an unexpected appearance when the players took to the ice.