FIVE QUICK THOUGHTS
-Take a moment to savor this one Sens fans. Maybe watch the highlights a few extra times today. Relive some of your favourite moments from the last six games. Playoff series victories have been pretty hard to come by for like the last decade so make sure you take time to appreciate this one. It’s easy to start looking ahead to round two but what the Senators were able to do against the Bruins deserves serious praise. Yes the Bruins were banged up coming in but that didn’t stop a significant number of so-called experts from siding with them and their fancy stats. The Ottawa Senators proved a lot of people wrong over the last six games. While our division rivals in Montreal and Toronto reflect on what went wrong, our Senators are gearing up for the second round! It all starts on Thursday night at the Canadian Tire Centre.
-It feels like I’ve watched a lifetime worth of hockey over the last couple weeks. Really don’t think it’s possible to pack much more into a six game series. Four overtime games, six games decided by a single goal, unlikely heroes, once in a lifetime plays and enough nail-biting tension to last an entire season. The Senators were able to get this done in six games but this really was as closely played a series as you’ll ever see. The Senators were definitely the better team but the margin of victory was ridiculously small. The Senators learned to win close games during the regular season and that experience certainly paid off in the first round.
-When Clarke MacArthur returned to the Ottawa line up earlier this month, it came as a pretty big surprise to just about everyone. We all knew MacArthur was still working to get back to the NHL one day. What we didn’t know is that Clarke was pushing for a return this year. He wanted to help the team this season. Watching the Senators stream off the bench following a series-clinching overtime winner by Clarke MacArthur is right up there with the best moments in franchise history. You couldn’t write a better script if you tried. What a moment.
-One of the first moves Pierre Dorion made as General Manager of the Ottawa Senators was a summer-time swap for Derick Brassard. While the deal had its critics, a big part of what the Sens liked about Brassard was his ability to elevate his game in those big moments. Well Big Game Brass has been on display through the first round of the playoffs. With 8 points in 6 games, Brassard trails only Evgeni Malkin in playoff scoring. He’s clearly found another level to his game and he’s been a huge part of the offence so far. Feels like every goal celebration, Brassard has been right there in the middle of it. And now Brassard gets set to go head to head against his former team in round two.
-Just get in and anything can happen. That tag line has become a sort of running joke around here and among some Sens fans. They rolled their eyes any time someone in Management or Eugene suggested the goal was to make the playoffs and then try to make some noise when they got there. Well, it’s true. Just get in and anything can happen. What that tag line didn’t tell us is “anything” meant Bobby Ryan and Derick Brassard both getting hot at the same time, Clarke MacArthur returning and contributing, a heroic performance by Erik Karlsson dominating a series with broken bones in his feet and the Sens consistently outplaying one of the league’s best possession teams in a six games series. Well the Ottawa Senators got in…and now, things are happening.
Boucher’s Post-Game Comments
Boxscore
Advanced Stats
Playoff Bracket
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