Is it time for the Senators to break up their top line?

	MAILBAG Michael Farber will periodically answer questions from SI.com users in his mailbag. Your name: Your e-mail address: Your home town: Enter your question:

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- With apologies to Bob Dylan, it is not all over now for baby blue.

Shortly after 1:30 p.m. PT on Tuesday, the Ottawa Senators took the ice with their top line of center Jason Spezza, left wing Dany Heatley and right wing Daniel Alfredsson all decked out in the same robin's-egg blue practice sweaters. Not to get all Mr. Blackwell on you, but the color schemes at NHL practices are as significant as red-carpet wear at the Oscars. The three players on the line -- or at least prospective line combination because nothing is etched in stone -- all wear the same jerseys, the clearest indicator that coach Bryan Murray is keeping The Big Line in tact for Game 2 of the Stanley Cup finals Wednesday.

Well, why shouldn't he?

Ottawa played an uninspired Game 1 but still had a lead in the third period and was beaten only by a late Anaheim goal on the road.

"There's a variety of ways to approach it," Murray said Tuesday. "We have to find out if we're going to battle better, if we're going to compete against a checking line better. Can we get away from them once in a while? Will that be beneficial? Can we draw some penalties?"

But there are other arguments, perhaps more even compelling that suggest Murray should do some line juggling.

Argument No. 1: The Spezza line, clearly the best in the playoffs through three rounds, generated nothing at even-strength, which probably should be no shock considering that Anaheim threw Samuel Pahlsson's checking line against it and then doubled up on defense midway through the first period, playing a pair of Norris Trophy defensemen, Chris Pronger and Scott Niedermayer, against the line. (Pahlsson's left winger, Travis Moen, scored the winning goal with three minutes remaining.) Trying to machete your way through this thicket of negative energy instead of spreading around the scoring potential against some lesser checkers and defensemen is a little bit like banging your own head against the wall, although the feisty Ducks would be just as happy to be banging your head against the wall for you.

Spezza seemed to play -- how to put this? -- um, discreetly in Game 1, avoiding Pronger as if the 6-foot-6 defenseman had halitosis. The center was uncharacteristically impatient and, at times, even cavalier with the puck, a hallmark of the Blind Drop Pass At The Blue Line Spezza, the one who used to infuriate as much as tantalize his coaches before a heightened level of maturity infused his stylish game this season. When asked Tuesday about the strides Spezza had taken the past two seasons, Murray began, "Well, he used to play like he played last night."

"We got a little overanxious," Spezza said a few minutes later. "We're confident that we're a pretty good line when we're going, and there's no need for rash changes now. It's what we did to ourselves and not what they did to us."