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.
While this obviously wasn`t the result the Senators were looking for in the series opener, there were still some positives to take away.
Ottawa was the better team for large stretches and showed they can definitely hang with the Rangers. With that said, the Sens have to find a way to pick up the pace, ramp up the intensity level and start hitting the Rangers at every opportunity.
The goal now for Ottawa is simple- find a way to get the split with a win at MSG on Saturday.
The Sens were on the ice for practice this morning but were missing a few key players, including Daniel Alfredsson, Erik Karlsson and Chris Neil.
If fans were hoping to see Mika Zibanejad come to the rescue, don't count on it. Murray spoke to the media today and suggested Zibanejad may have suffered a concussion during a collision at Binghamton practice. If he does have a concussion, you have to think that will end the young Swede's season.
The New York Rangers are the top team in the Eastern Conference, but if their Game 1 performance is the best they have to offer, I think the Senators can make this a competitive series.
Back at it tomorrow night at 7:30 PM.
- Ranted about this a little bit on Twitter last night but CBC may want to reconsider allow Glen Healy to work this series. His hatred for the Senators is abundantly clear and it comes through in his comments. Based on some of the replies I saw on Twitter, I'm not the only one that was infuriated by Healy last night.
- Not the result Sens fans were hoping for in Game 1 but it sure is nice to have playoff hockey back. Watched the game at St. Louis on Elgin last night and the place was packed with Sens fans. Gotta love this time of year!
