For a mid-December match-up, there was a surprising amount at stake for the Senators heading into their fixture against the Washington Capitals. The team was clinging to the final guaranteed play-off spot in the Atlantic Division in spite of their relatively hot start, just a point ahead of the Bruins and having played two more games. Further, the Capitals are by almost any measure the best team in the East; if the Sens were to prove their critics wrong, this was a great "measuring-stick" game.
Unfortunately, for the better part of the first period the team wasn't up to the task.