Who’d have guessed it would take a Cody Ceci hooking penalty to get the Ottawa offence untracked?
Past the midway mark of their seventh bad period in a row, the Senators were shorthanded when they started to test the usually shaky Dallas Stars goaltending, on this night provided by Kari Lehtonen.
First came a Tom Pyatt breakaway. Then a chance by Jean-Gabriel Pageau. Then another one by Zack Smith. And finally, the Dion Phaneuf anniversary goal.
Before that, the most recent Senators tally was the empty-netter by Chris Kelly in Tampa three games ago. Phaneuf’s seventh of the season, one year to the day after he was acquired from the Toronto Maple Leafs, was the first time a Senator scored on a goalie in a span of 145:04.