NHL: Ottawa forward off to sizzling start with Senators

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THE CANADIAN PRESS

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OTTAWA - Mike Fisher is making headlines for more than his high-profile romance with country music star Carrie Underwood.

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Mike Fisher

The Ottawa Senators forward is off to a career-best offensive start to the season and, with star centre Jason Spezza having just one goal to his credit, Fisher's contribution is much appreciated around Scotiabank Place these days.

Fisher scored twice, including the game-winner, in a 3-2 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday night. He has a team-high nine goals through the first 18 contests.

"He's picking up where he left off last year," Senators coach Cory Clouston said Wednesday. "I thought he played very well the last part of the season last year, maybe not always scoring, but his play to me was the most important thing.

"He makes everybody around him better because of his work ethic and the little things he does well."

Less than a quarter through the season, the 29-year-old Fisher is on pace to eclipse the career-high 23 goals he scored in 2007-'08. At the very least, he looks an easy bet, barring injury, to top the 20-goal mark for the fourth time in his 10 NHL seasons.

Fisher is happy to talk about putting the puck in the net these days, especially because he knows what it's like to not be scoring. And it's also easier to avoid questions regarding his relationship with Underwood, which he doesn't like to discuss with the media.

So while the American songstress was on U.S. television Wednesday morning, making an appearance on Ellen and gushing about her boyfriend of almost a year, Fisher was preparing for Thursday's game against the Pittsburgh Penguins and sticking to the topic of hockey.

"It's been a lot better start than last year," said the native of Peterborough, Ont., who missed two of the Senators' first 18 games a year ago and had just two goals at this same point in the season. He didn't get his ninth goal until Feb. 26 - the Senators' 60th game of the 2008-09 campaign.

"I haven't really approached it much differently. Obviously, when things are going well there's the confidence in making plays and I feel good that way. I've kind of relaxed a little bit more compared to last year where I was gripping the stick. Sometimes you try too hard and things just don't go well. I've relaxed a little bit more and get down to just playing and trying to have fun."

Fisher topped the 100-point mark in his last year of junior with the OHL's Sudbury Wolves before making the jump to the NHL. Since then, he's always been more of a grinder than a scorer.

He's always been a fan favourite in Ottawa, in part because he'll never be accused of floating his way through games.

He plays with speed and aggression and isn't afraid to hit and fight, sometimes paying the price for that style through injuries that have yet to allow him to play a full 82-game schedule in his career.

He's one of the Senators' top penalty killers and, despite being shuffled around and used on the wing on occasion, he's Ottawa's best regular faceoff man, with a 53.5-per-cent success rate.

The one thing missing from his game had been offence and that's vastly improved.

"Does he always score on every chance? No, but you can take a little bit of that because of all the good he does," Clouston said.