Their starting goalie has been felled by a loose puck at the players' bench, a few other key players are fighting through nagging injuries and a major West Coast road trip looms.

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The Sens' new backup, Mike Brodeur, will likely make his NHL regular-season debut in the coming weeks. Chicago picked him in Round 7 (211th overall) of the 2003 draft.

Photograph by : Phillip MacCallum, Getty Images

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What a test for the Ottawa Senators' renewed confidence in the afterglow of a four-game home-ice winning streak, punctuated by a dramatic comeback victory over Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals.

"We've got some momentum and we want to keep it going," Senators captain Daniel Alfredsson says.

The first hurdle is getting past the continued physical calamities involving Pascal "Hard Luck" Leclaire.

Senators general manager Bryan Murray says the "lower body" injury that kept Leclaire out of the lineup -- but clearly not out of the line of fire -- against the Capitals on Monday was a slightly hyper-extended left knee.

Oddly, Leclaire might have been safer on the ice, in the game, than he was sitting on the bench, where he was inadvertently clipped in the cheekbone by an errant puck, which he says "hit me like a baseball bat."

Into the breach goes backup Brian Elliott, while "Hard Luck" undergoes minor surgery for a fractured cheekbone. He's expected to miss about four weeks.

In that span, the Senators play 16 games, a huge challenge for Elliott's mental and physical makeup and a test for the confidence he says he gained from 31 games played last season, including one stretch in which he recorded eight straight victories in March.

Fortunately, Elliott has played lately and played well -- the full 61 minutes 14 seconds versus Washington in a 4-3 overtime win and the third period Saturday against Buffalo after Jochen Hecht fell on Leclaire's leg. Given their schedule, American Hockey League Binghamton call-up Mike Brodeur of Calgary will likely make his NHL debut in one of these back-to-back game situations.

At least Elliott, and perhaps even Brodeur, should have a team in front of them giving an honest effort every time out. That was the foundation of these recent wins over Toronto, Pittsburgh, Buffalo and Washington.

Alfredsson says the Senators' successful run starts with the basics on the ice. It comes from fundamentals reinforced by head coach Cory Clouston, promoted from Bingo last February.

"First, we feel comfortable with our five-on-five play, for sure," Alfredsson says. "Our forecheck is better. Our defensive zone play is a lot more solid. I think we have a better base to lean back on. Everybody has their role more defined, too."

The sense in the dressing room is that if the Senators work, chances are decent they will win. Led by a pressure game that made the Capitals feel they were being attacked by wolves, the Senators chipped away at a 3-1 lead in the third period, which featured a couple of game-saving stops by Elliott.

The defence continues to grow in stature, led by Chris Phillips, whom Murray tabs as the team's turnaround player of the year. That he has played so well -- helping to control such threats as Sidney Crosby and Ovechkin -- without his right arm, Anton Volchenkov, is a further tribute to Phillips.