All it took was one.
With the New York Rangers holding a 2-0 lead in the second period, you could tell the Scotiabank Place crowd was waiting for something to cheer for. Spezza hit Matt Carkner coming out of the box and he fed Milan Michalek who cut the lead to one. From there the Ottawa Senators and their fans took over.
After dropping Game 3 on home ice, the Ottawa Senators have now lost their last seven playoff games at Scotiabank Place.
That is a slide the Sens must find a way to halt tonight when they host the New York Rangers in Game 4 of their best of seven series. A win and the Sens are right back in the series. A loss and they head back to Madison Square Garden on the brink of elimination.
(UPDATE 1:30 PM)- Paul MacLean provided an update on Alfredsson this afternoon and suggested that Alfie suffered a setback between the morning skate and game time yesterday. He is still considered day to day with his Game 4 status up in the air. If he can't play, Bobby Butler will stay in the line up.
After a wild Game 2 and a hard earned split at Madison Square Garden, the Ottawa Senators return home to friendly confines of Scotiabank Place.
The Sens can expect to be greeted by an energetic crowd as the Senators get set to play their first playoff home game in almost two years. Puck drop is scheduled for just after 7:30 PM with the Red Zone out front of SBP open two hours before game time.
Some exciting news for Sens fans this morning as Daniel Alfredsson is on the ice at the team's morning skate ahead of Game 3 tonight.
You can watch a live stream of the skate here. Will have a full Game Day post in a little bit.
(UPDATE 9:38 PM)- Brendan Shanahan has weighed in on a couple of incidents from last night in New York. Rangers forward Carl Hagelin has been suspended for 3 games for his elbow to the head of Alfredsson. Meanwhile, Sens defenceman Matt Carkner received one game for teaching Brian Boyle a lesson in Game 2.
After a disappointing performance on Thursday night, the Ottawa Senators will look to earn the split with a win in Madison Square Garden tonight.
While the Senators looked good at times during Game 1, a six minute stretch was their undoing. Ottawa will need a complete sixty minute effort if they are going to even this best of seven tonight in New York.
In Game One, it was the New York Rangers that dictated the pace of play.
The Rangers scored the first four goals of the game and made life fairly easy for Henrik Lundqvist on route to a convincing 4-2 win last night in New York. The good news is this is a seven game series and the Sens will have a chance to answer back on Saturday night.
After over a week of speculation, prognostication, preparation and anticipation the day has finally arrived.
The upstart Ottawa Senators head into the Big Apple to play Game 1 of their best of seven series with the New York Rangers. And what better setting for the curtain raiser than Madison Square Garden and the bright lights of Broadway.
The Ottawa Senators had their last official practice this morning before hitting the road and heading to the Big Apple for tomorrow night’s series opener against the New York Rangers.
The Sens will have one final tune up during their morning skate tomorrow at MSG but for the most part, the time for preparation and predictions is over. It's time to start the Stanley Cup playoffs.