I’m not sure how it was supposed to happen.

Maybe a form of magic.

Maybe because Pascal Leclaire teased everyone a couple of times last season, including in Game 5 of the first (and only) Senators playoff round against Pittsburgh.

Sadly, the pre-season performance of Leclaire (an 8-5 win over the New York Rangers his most recent bit of work) and Brian Elliott have not given anyone in this community faith in Ottawa’s goaltending.

Yes, it’s only pre-season.

Yes, the Senators will tighten up.

But they are also entering 2010–11 without their shot blocker extraordinaire, Anton Volchenkov. In general, the Senators have a much more offensive outlook to their defence corps than they did with Volchenkov, Chris Phillips and Andy Sutton.

Of the three, only Phillips remains.

It stands to reason, the Sens goalies will have to be better than they were last season, not worse. Even if the Senators do have the puck more, score more goals, isn’t it time for Leclaire to start showing the promise he did in Columbus, long before the Senators dealt for him?

The Sens brass were not pleased with the state of the goaltending during this camp, which ended with an over/under on the internet of when rookie Robin Lehner would be called up from Bingo. In a rare no comment, general manager Bryan Murray wouldn’t even comment on his goaltending after Saturday’s game.

And at Monday’s practice, coach Cory Clouston wouldn’t name his starter for Friday’s opener vs. Buffalo.

Sound familiar?

Somebody tell me we won’t be talking about a goalie mess in Ottawa all season long.

Really, I’d love to know this is going to end soon.