The Ottawa Senators dug deep when they had to and Jean Gabriel Pageau played the role of hero as the Sens scored an impressive 4-2 win over the Boston Bruins.
Their reward? A first round match up with Carey Price and the Montreal Canadiens. Considering the other options were the Penguins and Bruins, this is exactly what the Senators were hoping for coming into the 48th and final game of the regular season.
All eyes across the National Hockey League were focused on Boston tonight as the Sens/Bruins closed out the regular season in a game had huge playoff implications on the three yet to be determined first round match ups.
With tonight's result, here are the four Eastern Conference match ups..
- (1) Pittsburgh vs(8) Long Island
- (2) Montreal vs (7) Ottawa
- (3) Washington vs (6) New York R
- (4) Boston vs (5) Toronto
Huge win for Paul MacLean's team but they certainly didn't make things easy on themselves.
A pretty sloppy opening period for the Senators as you might expect in the back to back situation. Robin Lehner made a few big stops early on and helped keep the game
scoreless. With a little over 3 minutes to play in the period, Eric Condra finished off a textbook net drive, burying the rebound off a Pageau shot. Plenty of physical stuff before the period was out too, including a spirited tilt between Chris Neil and Milan Lucic.
In the second period, as the game passed the half way mark, Jared Cowen ripped a slap shot by Tuukka Rask to give Ottawa 2-0 edge. First goal for Cowen since returning from hip surgery early this season. Lehner continued his strong play from the first period, making some huge stops to keep the two goal lead in tact. But with less than 5 seconds to play in the second, Rich Peverley beat Robin Lehner to close the lead to one.
Just 14 seconds into the third, Dennis Seidenberg carried over the Bruins momentum from late in the second, ripping a shot past Lehner to tie the game at 2-2. In the third period with the clock ticking away, it was a rookie that stepped up for the Senators. Karlsson and Methot went D to D at the point to open up some ice and Jean Gabriel Pageau buried a loose puck out front to give the Sens the lead. Kyle Turris would seal this one with the empty netter.
Chris Phillips left the game in the first period with what the team is calling a lower body injury. Sens GM Bryan Murray commented on the injury and indicated that Phillips was kept out for precautionary reasons and that he should be fine for the playoffs.
Here is the schedule for the Sens Round 1 series against the Habs…
ROUND 1 SCHEDULE
- GAME 1- @Montreal- Thursday, May 2
- GAME 2- @Montreal- Friday, May 3
- GAME 3- @Ottawa- Sunday, May 5
- GAME 4- @Ottawa- Tuesday, May 7
- GAME 5- @Montreal- Thursday, May 9
- GAME 6- @Ottawa- Saturday, May 11
- GAME 7- @Montreal- Sunday, May 12
