Almost everything is coming up Ottawa. The Senators have re-opened a four point lead in the Eastern Conference over Philadelphia and Montreal, thanks largely to a pair of shutouts against those two opponents. Brian Elliott was called to duty and shut the door twice; first in a 2-0 win against the Canadiens then another 2-0 blanking of the Flyers in back-to-back nights. The pair was his fourth and fifth shutouts of the season. He now has 25 wins total.

Elliot has turned things around for Ottawa. He came in to the game against Dallas on Saturday and stopped the six shots he faced in just over half a period of play. He started against Montreal on Monday and Philadelphia on Tuesday, and stopped all 55 combined shots he faced, recording two shutouts and four points for his team, who have been freefalling in the Eastern Conference standings since coming back from the Olympic break.

Elliott raised his season save percentage to .911 and dropped his GAA to 2.52, keeping him right around the league average for goalies with regular ice-time. With two days off before Friday’s game against division rivals Buffalo, Elliott will be ready to go again. He’s been playing miles above backup Pascal Leclaire, and will likely see the lion’s share of the action in the final stretch of the season. The time for goaltending experiments is over. Ottawa has their number one.

Ottawa’s recent woes have been well documented, but after over 120 minutes of scoreless play, Elliott is turning things around and get them back into the playoffs after a sorry 2008-09 season. Don’t expect a Stanley Cup Finals berth like we saw in 2007, but also don’t count out the Senators just yet. The goaltending will come back down to earth, but if Elliott can keep up a better-than-human pace, Ottawa might turn a few heads in the first and second rounds.