have been allowed to fight. When you had

Most Senators fans are still reeling from Saturday nights epic collapse against the Montreal Canadiens, when their team became the first in NHL history to lose a game in which they had a three-goal lead in the final five minutes. The loss was painful on so many levels and seemed to put a definitive nail in the coffin when it came to the Senators playoff chances. And while its easy to point to that loss as the one that killed the teams post-season hopes, it was merely the final straw in a season-long string of disappointments. That collapse against Montreal was spectacular and historic (for the wrong reasons), but it wasnt an anomaly when it comes to the 2013-14 Ottawa Senators. On too many occasions this season, this team squandered opportunities to get two points – either settling for one or being blanked altogether. Here is a look at the 10 games that will likely cost the Senators a playoff spot this season: 1) October 5th – 5-4 shootout loss at TOR Just 24 hours after shutting out the Buffalo Sabres in the season opener, the Senators jumped out to a 4-2 lead against the Maple Leafs midway through the second period. But with time running out in that frame, Joffrey Lupul scored a goal to pull the Leafs to within one goal heading into the third period. And in what would become an eerie preview of what to expect defensively throughout the season, the Senators would allow the Leafs to tie the game – and then win it in a shootout. 2) November 1st – 5-4 shootout loss vs NYI The Senators managed to blow a two-goal lead twice in this game, squandering 2-0 and 4-2 advantages. And knowing what we know about the 2013-14 New York Islanders now, this loss looks even more ridiculous in hindsight. Adding to the lunacy of this night was the fact the Senators surrendered 57 shots on goal to New York. Thats not a typo. 3) December 10th – 2-1 shootout loss at BUF Granted, the Senators played the night before and beat the Philadelphia Flyers in a spirited shootout on home ice. But the Sens looked pretty average against the NHLs worst team the very next night and managed to score only a single goal. The offensive malaise even extended into the shootout, which required 10 rounds before the Sabres eventually won it. 4) December 19th – 4-2 loss vs FLA This was another costly loss to an Eastern Conference lightweight – only it was more damaging because it occurred in regulation time. The Senators led this game 2-1 after the first period and should have been sparked by a brilliant highlight reel goal from Jason Spezza. Instead, the Panthers scored twice in the final 2:32 of the game to stun the Sens with a 4-2 victory. Ottawa was on the power play with a chance to tie the game in the final 90 seconds, but allowed a 2-on-1 the other way and Tomas Kopecky buried them with a shorthanded goal. 5) December 21st – 4-3 overtime loss vs PHX Former Senator Antoine Vermette killed the Senators in this matinee game, as he scored a hat trick – which was capped off with the overtime winner. The Senators actually held a 2-0 lead in this game and also had a 3-2 advantage with under three minutes to play in the third period. This game may have been the best microcosm for the Sens penchant for sloppiness in afternoon games. 6) January 8th – 4-3 overtime loss at COL Once again, the Senators were less than three minutes away from a regulation time victory, only to have disaster strike. Paul Stastny scored the tying goal with just over two minutes left and then Tyson Barrie scored the overtime winner 33 seconds into the extra frame. The Sens allowed two goals in the span of about three minutes with the game on the line. Instead of skating out of Denver with two points, they had to settle for just one. 7) January 16th – 5-4 overtime loss vs MTL You can actually make a sound argument that the Senators were fortunate to take one point out of this game, considering the Habs jumped out to an early 3-0 lead. But Ottawa fought back with four straight goals and appeared to be in complete command of this game – until Jared Cowen accidentally put the puck into his own net after Craig Anderson stopped Tomas Plekanec on a breakaway. PK Subban then scored just 23 seconds into overtime, with a celebration that seemed to irk the Sens. Sadly, this was not the most painful 5-4 overtime loss they would endure against the Habs this season. 8) February 1st – 6-3 loss at TOR In a case of déjà vu, the Senators once again found themselves with a two-goal lead at the Air Canada Centre – only to watch it evaporate quickly. The Senators had a 2-0 lead, but Toronto tied the game in the second period, thanks in large part to a controversial play. Nazem Kadri drilled Sens defenseman Cody Ceci behind the net with a hit that many felt was illegal, but play went right on and Kadri took the puck and set up Joffrey Lupul for the tying goal. The Sens never seemed to recover from that turn of events and the Leafs scored four times in the third period to beat Ottawa. 9) March 4th – 3-2 loss at EDM Like every other game on this list, the Senators held the lead – jumping out 1-0 early thanks to a Jason Spezza goal. Fresh off a win at the Heritage Classic in Vancouver two days earlier, the Senators should have had some momentum for this game against the lowly Oilers. Instead – in what turned out to be a damn good audition before the trade deadline – Ales Hemsky scored twice to pace the Oilers to a 3-2 victory. 10) March 15th – 5-4 overtime loss at MTL Its still a little too soon to talk about this game. Kaleb McGary Youth Jersey . The turf is scheduled to give way to actual grass that is bright green, so we dont have to complain any more—we just have to wait a few years. Instead, do feel free to complain if the roof is closed for any reason other than to allow a game to be played. Chris Lindstrom Jersey . The fourth-year guard from Carleton University kicked off his varsity career with rookie of the year honours in 2011, before racking up three straight Mike Moser Memorial Trophies for outstanding player. http://www.falconsrookiestore.com/Falcons-Steve-Bartkowski-Jersey/ . -- Thirty years ago, the Detroit Pistons beat the Denver Nuggets 186-184 in triple overtime, a game that remains the highest scoring in NBA history. John Cominsky Jersey .Y. - His opponent couldnt stop him, and LeBron James didnt quite know what to think when his coach tried. Kendall Sheffield Jersey . The club announced on Wednesday that Malhotra signed a 25-game professional tryout contract. The 33-year-old suffered a serious eye injury when struck by a puck during a game versus Colorado in March of 2011.Twenty-four-year-old Jacques Villeneuve drives out of the iconic Indianapolis Motor Speedway with the world at his feet. It is the Monday after the day before, a day that forever changed the life of the young Canadian. That day Villeneuve, fittingly driving the number 27 that become so synonymous with his father Gilles at Ferrari, comes from two laps down to win the 1995 Indianapolis 500. He had spent the day smiling and posing for hundreds of photographs that are beamed all across the world. By the end of the year he has a multi-year contract in his pocket at the best team in Formula One, Williams-Renault. Within two years Villeneuve is World Champion and is a star everywhere he goes. Meanwhile, the Indianapolis 500 continues on without him. As Villeneuve departed for Europe, IndyCar split in two and has never fully recovered from the bitter divorce. The Indy 500s list of drivers in the late 90s lacked real star power and it lost a grip on being the biggest race in the world. Slowly the giant teams like Penske, Ganassi and Andretti returned and with them came world class, elite drivers. For some ten years now, the Indy 500 is back to what it once was, testing some of the greatest single-seater drivers the world has to offer. It is the second Sunday in May and Jacques Villeneuve, now 43, drives back inside the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Dressed in a yellow race suit with Dollar General written all over it he looks nothing like what many would expect a former F1 World Champion to look. He doesnt have the amount of hair he once had but he is back at Indy as a driver, the first time in 19 years. He stops to sign autographs and pose for photographs as he makes that famous walk, paved by greatness, that the likes of A.J. Foyt, Jim Clark, Rick Mears and other stars have taken, alongside Gasoline Alley to the pit lane. The diehard fans stare and flock towards him but he is far from the main attraction at the Speedway. Villeneuve, not a regular on the IndyCar circuit, does remarkably well with attention but here he is just another driver, one that doesnt travel in packs with fellow drivers. He is a man from past glories back to recreate new memories of his own. "I hardly know anyone to be honest. I know (Takuma) Sato, but I never raced against him and I have never raced against anyone who is a regular in this series. That is weird because I dont know what to expect, I dont know how they race. Which one is clean? Dirty? Crazy? So its definitely a bit strange, yes." The answer is typical Jacques. He talks of not knowing anyone but immediately he means as drivers, not as men. Our conversation immediately turns to scenarios that can take place on the track. Villeneuve doesnt talk in clichés and for someone who has done as much media as he has in his life, he remains a refreshingly deep-thinker who can take you on the same journey as his mind. We talk about this upcoming Sunday and the Indy 500, and the point when he will be travelling in excess of 230 miles per hour with cars all around him. His eyes squint as he dictates word-for-word his precise thoughts as he gets set to compete in what he describes as the biggest race in the world. "The complexity of this race now is running in traffic. The cars have two hundred horsepower less than 19 years ago and much more grip and to be able to stay super close to the cars, while everyone is running flat out, the key is to stay close to someone else, (ready for) when he has to lift, back out a little bit because of the traffic in front of him, then you steal his momentum. "Thats really tough, ass you get in the turbulent air behind someone, your whole car is shaking and thats when the car starts sliding and you can lose the front end or the rear end a little bit and, at that point, do you have the guts to keep your foot down or not and is your car working in that situation?" This is a world he has little control in, a frightening thought for even the greatest of race drivers.dddddddddddd Villeneuve, who will start, fittingly, in the 27th spot for Sundays race, continues: "I will be surrounded by guys who respect the danger and others who think its a video game and, at those speeds, its risky and thats what I still dont know, who to trust and who not to trust out there. With more grip and less horsepower, the cars are very forgiving. I have got sideways a few times already this month and if I did that 19 years ago I would have been in the wall. "I think they give a false sense of security for some of the drivers and thats why you see kids coming in and, within three laps, they are flat out because I dont think they respect how dangerous it is. Once you get caught out, then you start respecting it and at Indianapolis there are two kinds of drivers, the ones who have hit the wall and the ones who havent hit the wall." It is clear Villeneuve is almost as concerned about those who havent hit the wall than hitting the wall himself. "This is not a track where you want to make a mistake. The speeds we go is exciting, it is unparalleled. It is a long race and my approach (in the past) was to mind your own business and it will come to you. You have to know when to take a risk and when not to. Normally in the first half, the idiots will crash themselves out so if you can stay clean to 100 laps then that can be useful!" There arent too many drivers in IndyCar who will refer to some of the colleagues as idiots but this is what comes with the honest, direct Villeneuve who survived the world of Formula One without turning into a robot, something very few have done in recent years. He admits he still watches Formula One but not the same way he once did: "I dont like or understand the reason behind the new rules but we have had some amazing races this year. Why? Only because the teammates have been allowed to fight. When you had Prost and Senna (at McLaren in the late 80s) they would lap the field but everyone was happy so we have a bit of that now with Lewis (Hamilton) and Nico (Rosberg). "The rules themselves, though, are not F1. The sport should be out of this world, not reality. You should look at it and say thats crazy how do these guys manage to drive these kinds of cars at those speeds. In the original turbo engine era they would do qualifying and then throw the engine in the garbage. Thats F1. It should be so extreme that when you are at home, and you are not a racer, you know thats another world. Now you are at home and think I could do that. There is nothing special about it anymore." The man who won 11 Grand Prix races has never been one to focus too much on the past but it is clear he knows those eras were far superior to modern day F1. He smiles when asked about the 1997 season but moves off from it as quickly as it comes up. "It was fun but I dont dwell on the past, I never have and thats why I want my kids to see me drive. I dont want to be for my kids, the guy that used to race that they can see in books." Those books tell a remarkable tale of one of the finest Canadians to ever compete in any sport. On Sunday at the Greatest Spectacle in Racing another chapter is to be written. ' ' '