Despite a spirited third period effort in Toronto on Wednesday night, the fact remains the Ottawa Senators have now lost four straight hockey games.

The Sens will look to break that trend under the bright lights of Broadway when they roll into Madison Square Garden the New York Rangers. Robin Lehner gets the nod in the Ottawa goal in what will be his third start of the season. The Sens are still holding a playoff spot in the east but need to get things back on track and it starts tonight at MSG.

In the wake of last night's loss in Toronto, word tonight is that the Ottawa Senators are looking to add some toughness to their line up.

During the Insider Trading segment on TSN, Bob McKenzie indicated that after last night's fight involving Dave Dziurzynski the Senators are looking to add a physical player to their forward ranks.  Should be interesting to see who the Sens plan to target on this front.

Despite an impressive third period rally, the Senators recent slide reached four on Wednesday night, this time at the hands of their provincial rivals.

Zibanejad, Smith, Alfredsson and Greening scored for the Senators but Bishop struggled in goal, letting in 5 on 28 shots as the Leafs held on for a 5-4 win. The Sens were the better team for large stretches of this one but in the end it's the Leafs that come away with the two points.

The Ottawa Senators knew this road trip was going to be a tough one as they set out to play 6 of 8 games away from the friendly confines of Scotiabank Place.

The Sens lost the first three in Boston, Philadelphia and Long Island but picked up a point in two of those games.  Goals are extremely hard to come by for Paul MacLean’s team but the Sens are hoping the Battle of Ontario and a date with the Toronto Maple Leafs helps ignite their struggling offence.

(UPDATE 4:09 PM)-  I've added a video to the top of this post that is a must listen.  Sylvain St-Laurent did a great job in a sit down interview with Senators GM Bryan Murray and the audio of that exchange has been made available on Youtube.  Murray really lays out the team's approach leading up to the trade deadline next month. 

(UPDATE 4:03 PM)- The Ottawa Senators announced this afternoon that they have reassigned forward Derek Grant to Binghamton of the American Hockey League.

(UPDATE 1:05 PM)- Paul MacLean has announced Robin Lehner as his starter today against the Islanders.  As expected, Andre Benoit takes the place of Mike Lundin in the line up.  No timetable on a return for Lundin after suffering a concussion yesterday in Philadelphia.

After a gutsy effort in Boston on Thursday night, the Ottawa Senators continue their road swing with a stop at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia.

The Flyers have struggled early in the shortened season but are showing signs of life lately.  For Ottawa, it's the second game of five straight away from Scotiabank Place and the first of back to back afternoon affairs.  Ottawa will visit the New York Islanders tomorrow at 3:00 PM.

The Ottawa Senators were on the ice for practice this afternoon, exactly 24 hours ahead of their match up with the Philadelphia Flyers tomorrow afternoon.

Some good news on the injury front as Craig Anderson skated again and for the first time since last week’s ankle injury, faced some actual shots.  Anderson spoke to the media afterwards and even though there is no timeline for his return, he said he’s feeling better each day and will be back as soon as possible.