3 reasons the Senators are as hot as any team in the NHL

The surging Ottawa Senators have played themselves into fairly cozy seeding in the Atlantic Division on the strength of a 5-0-2 ride over their last seven games.

They're still seven back of the division-leading Montreal Canadiens, but have a four-point bulge over the Boston Bruins, Detroit Red Wings, and Tampa Bay Lightning with their recent run of play.

Here's how they've done it.

Last four 40's

Leads have become a difficult thing to overcome in the NHL, and nobody's been jumping out to them more effectively over the last week than Ottawa.

The Senators have outscored their opponents 13-2 through the opening 40 minutes of their last four games, taking leads of two, three, three, and three into the third period over that stretch.

This a combination of things, obviously. Their 13 goals in eight periods works out to a per-game scoring average of 4.87, or a unit light years ahead of the NHL's best goal-per-game average.

But Craig Anderson probably deserves the most credit. He's stopped 84-of-86 shots over that stretch - good for a .977 clip - and went on to claim all four wins.

A return to the lineup, and a return to form

A pair of returns have loosely coincided with the Senators' recent roll.

First, top-line winger Mike Hoffman returned to the lineup at the beginning of November after a four-plus-game absence. Since then, the top unit of Kyle Turris, Bobby Ryan, and Hoffman has been one of the most productive in hockey, compiling 29 points in 11 games and leading the Senators to the NHL's fourth-most productive offense this month.

(Jamie Benn, Tyler Seguin, and Patrick Sharp have 40 points over that stretch, by the way, which is just sort of dumb).

And second, reigning Norris winner Erik Karlsson has been scorching since his return to goal scoring (his first this season came Nov. 10, in the team's last regulation loss). The captain has five goals and 12 points since his breakthrough moment 15 games into the season.

Special teams

Isn't it always the case?

When the month began, the Senators sported a woeful 89-percent combined special teams. Now - and on the strength of a vastly improved man advantage (and not coincidentally mirrored by Karlsson's red-hot run) - the Senators have improved by 10 points, nearly touching the league average.

Their penalty kill is still ranked in the final third of NHL teams, skewing perhaps the most telling stat of the Senators' start - a top-10 goal differential league-wide at even strength.