BOSTON _ The Senators go back to work Tuesday.
The party is over. It was a great weekend.
Now, the chase for a playoff spot begins.
The Senators have a lot of work to do. They’re going to have to get to the 90-point mark to make the playoffs. They’ve played more games than everybody else but with 30 games left that pretty much means they have to have a .500 record.
They’ve done it all season. I don’t know why they can’t do it now. They just need to get their scoring back. They didn’t have that going into the break.
A tough start in Boston. They haven’t had a lot of success here but the road to the playoffs begin now.

The NHL All Star Fantasy Draft is the best addition to this weekend. It makes sense. It is fun. The players have fun with it. Everybody waits in anticipation to see who goes last.
The show should be done in an hour but that’s a story for another day. I thought Logan Couture took being selected last with class. He’ll drive home in a new car. He talked about all the ribbing he was getting from teammate Joe Thornton.
It has certainly helped to raise Couture’s profile.
I wouldn’t have been upset if either Alfredsson or Chara decided to make a trade. That would have been fun. It would have been neat if they swapped a Canuck or Leaf.
Fun is what the All Star weekend is all about.
The game isn’t going to be hockey. It’s going to be a lot of scoring. But if the league wants to kick off the weekend the right way they’ve found a winner with the Fantasy Draft. It works and it is fun.

I read the Brian Elliott piece in our paper with great interest.
First things first, he deserves to be here. He is having an all-star season. He has been one of the best goalies in the league.
He still doesn’t get what happened in Ottawa.
That’s OK neither do many fans.
You would think Elliott was run out of town by the media which couldn’t be further from the truth. That’s the greatest myth in sports.
He’d have people believe that. He believes it himself. He proved it with this quote given to Robert Tychowski of the Edmonton Sun.
“Obviously, the Canadian media is pretty harsh on goalies and in Ottawa it’s been kind of a focal point for them in years past. They like to throw people under the bus. I try not to think about it too much. I never really read into any of it. The guys know how you are in the locker room and that’s all that really matters,” said Elliott.
Yes, the guys in the locker room now know they’ve got a goalie in Craig Anderson that can stop the puck. They don’t have an excuse maker behind the bench or in the net that won’t take any responsibility when the team loses.
Let’s look at Elliott’s numbers when he was dealt again: 13-19-8, .894 save-percentage and a 3.19 GAA.
Those speak for themselves. I know, I know, it wasn’t his fault. It never was when he was here. His quotes speak volumes to the fact that he doesn’t accept the blame either.
He never did while he was here. Why would he now?
Have a great all-star weekend. It’s going to be fun.

GLENDALE – This is not breaking news or anything, but do you know who’s really tough? Chris Neil, that’s who.
Just had a chat with him outside the hotel, before heading to the rink, and he doesn’t have a scratch on his face. That’s amazing, given the high speed collision he had with Kyle Clifford last night. Was it an accident? Probably. Clifford wasn’t out to get him. But he did raise his stick just before contact, catching Neil right in the mouth and on the side of his head.
Neil was sore this morning, but no, he doesn’t have a mark on him, and of course he’ll be in the lineup for tonight’s game against the Coyotes.
Meanwhile, Jason Spezza wound up taking seven stitches above the right eye from the puck that hit him, coming off the back mesh, during the pre-game warmup. As I wrote in the paper, Spezza spoke to Le Droit’s Marc Brassard, Sportsnet’s Ian Mendes and I earlier in the day about why he doesn’t wear a helmet in the warmup and how, one time five years ago, he took a shot off a crossbar that ricocheted back and hit him in the face, cutting him.
I knew when he was clipped by the puck Monday, five years later, that he was going to blame me for jinxing him.
“Hey Jason, we’re gonna need you when you’re done,” I said to him at the rink this morning, as he was headed outside to kick the soccer ball around with some teammates.
“No chance,” he said, joking. “I’m not talking to you $%$^&*(*$& guys. You want to talk to me, let’s talk about scoring goals. Then maybe I will.”
I have a feeling he gets a couple tonight. I also think the Senators will snap out of their two-game losing streak to wind up with a 3-2 record on this road trip. If they lose to Phoenix, which I don’t think is a very good team, it will raise a very good question: that is, are the Senators finally falling back to earth?
Personally, I think they are where they’ll end up, somewhere around fifth or sixth in the conference. I’ve said from the start of the season they’ll make the playoffs, but in no way is it as cut and dry as the ridiculous story I read in the other Ottawa paper a couple of days ago.
The Citizen guy wrote that if they don’t get 34 points in their final 32 games, it would be a collapse comparable to the Boston Red Sox fold. That’s just goofy. Real goofy. The Senators will still need to play well to get to the post-season tournament, the standings are tight and there are going to be teams making a big push down the stretch. But barring injuries to key guys, I think Paul MacLean will get them there.

When he kicked for the Ottawa Renegades in 2003, New York Giants hero Lawrence Tynes was called “Auto” by some of my buddies. Partly because it was an auto-matic three points when he lined up for a field goal, and partly because he was once was charged with a traffic violation and when the officer was giving him a ticket Tynes apparently looked at him incredulously through the window of his auto-mobile and said: “Do you know who I am?”
Something similar happened when we were at a club in the market a few weeks ago. One of the Vancouver Canucks (I won’t say which in case he’s married) started hitting on my incredibly attractive girlfriend. When he sensed she wasn’t interested, he said “you don’t know who I am?” When she said no, he told her his name and that he played hockey. She said sorry, still don’t know. He then said he played for the Canucks. She replied: “I cheer for the Bruins.” He said, “they beat us in the final last year.” She said: “Sucks to be you” and walked away. Back to the better man, of course. Ha.
Anyway, I just laugh at these “do you know who I am?” people. Usually, they’re not nearly the big deal they think they are.
On the flipside, I’ve been traveling the past week with a legitimate famous person, and often, at least down here, he walks around in obscurity.
Okay, I get that Denis Potvin retired from the NHL in 1988, which is now 24 years ago. But this guy is one of the Top 6 defencemen EVER – according to The Hockey News. I say Top 2. And yeah, he’s a little older, but he still looks the same. Yet I actually had to tell some autograph seekers who he was the other day. Dopes.
The Senators will have to keep from looking for the Hollywood stars and hot chicks in the crowd tonight. They’re going to need their full focus to beat the Kings.
Isn’t it nuts that they’ve only won once here EVER?