It’s the kind of Game Day post you sit down to write the night before. It’s about 9:30 PM on Friday night.
After spending the last couple hours running a strange gauntlet of hype videos and playoff previews, I’m ready for them to drop the puck right now. But the damn clock keeps telling me I still have hours to go. I’m supposed to sleep one more time too. And I swear I saw time move backwards for a second there. It’s a little bit like Christmas Eve that way.
Look, I’ve taken a bunch of trips around the sun and I’ve seen a thing or two. But from that first time against that Sabres back in 1997 up until Game 6 against last season, there is just nothing that feels like playoffs. It’s peace and chaos at the same time. It’s safety and it’s dread. It’s joy and it’s misery. It’s perfect. And it’s finally here again.
The Ottawa Senators play Game 1 against the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday afternoon.
It’s now 10:00 PM, the night before the game. I am drifting aimlessly through a combination of highlights, old SensChirp posts and weirdly intense social media rage over the annual bad fan song. That guy does suck though. But it’s all part of the experience, really.
I am also thinking a lot about the best way to watch the game. Sens Mile was an option but I think maybe a trip down to the CTC with my daughter is the play. There was a time in my more impressionable years where I worried that the choice I made would impact the result. Where the right jersey would make the difference. Where the Game Day routine had to be perfect. Where the Vaclav Varada jersey was burned for some reason. I now realize that there is nothing I can do. Believe me, I’ve tried everything.
Now I’ve decided to just enjoy the heck out of it. Collecting moments.
I sent my Dad an email earlier. He’s a strong believer in the jinx but we’ve been talking carefully about this team since I was 12 and they haven’t won anything. Maybe we’ve been doing it wrong. I told him “I think this might be our year”. Bold, I know. I deleted it from my sent box just in case.
Okay, maybe I should get some rest. Just a couple more though.
See, the thing about this year’s team is they’re actually really fucking good. The nerds love ’em. A sleeping giant, as the ol’ saying goes. The path to this point has been a long and winding one and a lot of you wrote them off eight or nine times this season but the truth is, its best possible version of the Ottawa Senators that takes the ice in Round One. They are built for this moment.
Look, there’s no doubt that they’re lining up against a powerhouse. The Hurricanes are the top team in the conference for a reason. But there’s also no doubt that those 25 best friends in the Sens locker room actually think they can pull this off. Forget think they can. They expect to.
Okay, goodnight.
Slept like a baby actually, thanks for asking. And by that I mean, woke up every 30 minutes thinking about today. It’s 6:28 AM and even though I probably could have slept for a couple more hours, once I started staring at the ceiling and thinking about Carolina’s line combinations and how Travis Green might try to match up, I knew it was probably time to wake up.
There will be no morning skate but based on practice, it looks like all hands on deck. The one exception being Tyler Kleven. He was on the ice in a non-contact jersey and while the Head Coach didn’t rule him out completely, it seems like a longshot. Dennis Gilbert takes that third pairing spot in the meantime.
Here’s how the Sens will line ’em up…
Batherson-Stutzle-Giroux
Tkachuk-Cozens-Greig
Cousins-Pinto-Amadio
Foegele-Eller-Zetterlund
Sanderson-Zub
Chabot-Spence
Gilbert-Matinpalo
Linus Ullmark starts.
Puck drop is scheduled for just a shade after 3:00 PM. The official opening of the Stanley Cup playoffs. This game will definitely be televised, it will definitely be on the radio, it will definitely be streamed illegally but you should definitely go watch it with as many people as possible. Playoffs should be experienced. Remember, it’s all about moments. Even as agonizing as the whole experience will be.
It’s playoff hockey and it’s finally here again. If you’re the lurking type, I want to hear from you today. Where will you watch from? Got a lucky game day routine? Let’s hear it. Regulars too. Let’s get this comment section buzzing early.
A closer look at the match-up, courtesy of the most important HEAD2HEAD table of the season.
| HEAD2HEAD |  |
 |
|---|---|---|
| Record | 44-27-11 (99 pts) | 53-22-7 (113 pts) |
| Goals For | 3.35 (8th) | 3.55 (2nd) |
| Goals Against | 2.99 (13th) | 2.88 (5th) |
| Power Play | 24.0% (8th) | 24.9% (4th) |
| Penalty Kill | 75.8% (29th) | 80.5% (11th) |
| Shots For | 28.9 (9th) | 32.2 (2nd) |
| Shots Against | 24.4 (3rd) | 23.9 (1st) |
| Leading Scorers | Stutzle-83 pts Batherson-71 pts Cozens-59 pts Tkachuk-59 pts Sanderson-54 pts |
Aho-80 pts Ehlers-71 pts Svechnikov-70 pts Jarvis-66 pts Blake-53 pts |
| Starting Goalie | Linus Ullmark 28-12-8 2.73 GAA, .891 sv% |
Frederik Andersen 16-14-5 3.06 GAA, .874 sv% |
Go. Sens. Go.