Craig Anderson made 36 saves and Colin Greening scored a pair of goals to the lead the Ottawa Senators to a 4-1 victory over the San Jose Sharks at the Shark Tank. The win was the Senators fifth straight on the road and moved Ottawa into fourth place in the Eastern Conference.

PHOTO CREDIT - Senators.com

Ottawa - January 20, 2012 - Craig Anderson made 36 saves and Colin Greening scored a pair of goals to the lead the Ottawa Senators to a 4-1 victory over the San Jose Sharks at the Shark Tank. The win was the Senators fifth straight on the road and moved Ottawa into fourth place in the Eastern Conference. The Senators are 8-1-1 in their last 10 games.

Typical of the Senators this season, they started the game off slow, being out hustled, out shot and out played in the first period. The Sharks jumped on top of the Senators right from the opening face off, and had seven shots on net before the game was four minutes old. Of the seven shots, six of them were good scoring chances and if it wasn’t for Craig Anderson, the Senators could’ve been two or three to nothing behind early. The Sharks outshot the Senators 16-7 in the period.

The early onslaught by the Sharks led to a Brad Winchester goal to put the Senators behind 1-0 three minutes into the game, but after that Anderson shut the door. Kyle Turris with his fourth of the season tied it at one, which is the way the period ended.

Falling behind is nothing new for the Senators and their fans, who have learned not to panic when their team falls behind.

The Senators seemed to get their legs in the second and third periods and played a much better game. Despite being outshot 21-14 by the Sharks over the final two periods, the Senators slowly started taking over the game. Two of the Senators eight shots in the second period ended up as goals, and in a repeat of the Leafs game on Tuesday the Senators were opportunistic in their scoring. Erik Karlsson with his seventh goal of the season and Colin Greening with his 10th gave the Sens a 3-1 second period lead.

Greening added his 11th of the season in the third to make it 4-1. The Senators are taking advantage of their opportunities when their given to them. Karlsson snapped a nice shot in on a three on two when the Sharks were caught up the ice. Colin Greening scored on the power play after the Sharks Jamie McGinn was given a two-minute penalty for kneeing Jason Spezza. It was nice to see the Senators make the Sharks pay for such a stupid penalty.

Klye Turris has helped solidify the Senators second line. In 16 games with the Senators this season, Turris has 13 points and has fit in well with Nick Foligno and Daniel Alfredsson. He’s not just an offensive threat, but his two-way play has been excellent. Turris is an amazing plus 13 the 16 games and when him and Alfredsson are on the ice, the Senators rarely give up a goal.

Its starting to look like the trade for David Rundblad was a good one. With a wealth of talent on the defensive end and a number of talented young defense men in Binghamton a year or two away, the Senators could afford to give up a young defenseman for a solid second line centre. Turris’ attitude has been great since he’s been here and he’s fit in well with his team mates.

- A game with the Sharks is never easy. The Sharks try to punish their opponents and there will be a number of sore bodies tomorrow. However, the Senators inflicted some damage of their own.

- Mark Borowiecki was solid in his first game with the Senators. He made a lot of smart, safe passes and was good at taking his man out of the play. He also didn’t panic when the Sharks were putting the pressure on.

- The Senators may be without Zack Smith, who may have gotten a concussion during an accidental hit in the second period at centre ice. Kaspars Daugavins was also hurt when he blocked a shot.

- Tonight was the ninth game in a row that the Senators have given up more than 30 shots in a game. It’s a trend that we’ll have to watch and hope that over the length of the season it doesn’t result in a worn out Craig Anderson down the stretch.

- Up next is a game in Anaheim against the Ducks on Saturday afternoon.