Ottawa rookie Brian Elliott has won two of his three starts for the Senators since being recalled. (Adrian Wyld/Canadian Press)

When the Ottawa Senators take the ice on Saturday night against the Montreal Canadiens (CBC Sports, CBCSports.ca, 6:30 p.m. ET), perhaps a few fans will think fondly back to Oct. 10, 1992.

That evening the Sens, playing their first game in the National Hockey League as an expansion franchise, beat the Habs 5-3 for the brightest moment in what would be a 10-70-4 season.

Montreal went on to win its last Stanley Cup to date.

Now, things obviously aren't quite that bad these days for the Senators, but at 15-21-6 and 12 points back of a playoff spot through the half-pole, Ottawa supporters must be wondering.

Hockey fans are notorious for finding silver linings, however, and after losing eight of nine the Sens are coming off a two-game winning streak and seem ready to anoint rookie goaltender Brian Elliott as the solution to all their problems.

With one former goalie (Ray Emery) now in Moscow, and the previous starter (Martin Gerber) off to Binghamton of the American Hockey League for "conditioning," the castle walls are being manned by Elliott.

A ninth-round pick in 2003 who led the University of Wisconsin Badgers to the NCAA championships two years ago, Elliott has gone 2-1-0 with a 1.69 GAA in three starts, winning the last two. The most recent was a 3-2 victory over the equally sad Atlanta Thrashers on Wednesday.

"I put a lot of pressure on myself," he said. "This is my goal and dream, to play at this level.

"When you get a shot like this, it doesn't happen this often. You have to make the most of it."

Ottawa started last season as the Eastern Conference's best team (29-10-4) before collapsing in the second half and going out in the first round of the playoffs.

In effect, then, the Sens have been playing poorly for a full year, making this just about the right moment to pull themselves together. They could start by winning three straight for the first time this season.

While getting some goaltending is nice, finding scoring will be the real key.

The top line of Daniel Alfredsson, Dany Heatley and Jason Spezza has combined for almost half of Ottawa's 101 goals so far. No other player has more than six.

Habs are rolling

Wins over Carolina and Atlanta are one thing, beating les Canadiens is another.

Montreal is 22 points up on the Senators and has won eight of its last 10 on the way to a 26-11-2 mark — normally enough to lead the Northeast Division but now 12 back of Boston's astonishing 33-7-4 pace.

In winning five of the last six the Habs have scored 25 times, led by the second line of Robert Lang between Andrei and Sergei Kostitsyn, who have combined for 13 goals and 25 points over that stretch.

Andrei himself has a least one goal in each of his last four contests.

Scoring enough to win

All has come with first string goaltender Carey Price on the shelf since the end of the calendar year (with the now-ubiquitous "lower body injury").

Backup Jaroslav Halak has started the last seven games, winning five despite a balloon-like 3.27 goals against.

Not that it's really worth the price of tea in the Far East, but Halak gave up four goals in a 5-2 loss at Ottawa last March in his only career start against the Senators.

And when you are trying to claw your way back up, any little hand-hold is appreciated.