Senators’ season on the brink
Pasted on the door of the Ottawa Senators dressing room at Canadian Tire Centre is a big picture of the Stanley Cup. But without a victory in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference final, hopes of winning it for the first time in franchise history will evaporate.
The Senators will be facing elimination on Tuesday evening, trailing 3-2 to a Pittsburgh Penguins squad that “slapped” them 7-0 on Sunday afternoon.
“We can’t be sitting in our mud puddle,” head coach Guy Boucher said after practice on Monday afternoon. “We’ve got to get up and go.”
Boucher has typically kept his team off the ice on off-days during the post-season, but opted for a half-hour practice ahead of Game 6 to help his team “refresh” and “reload” after one of the worst losses in team playoff history. Players thought the practice, as well as an encouraging chat beforehand, helped wipe the slate clean.
The on-ice session didn’t include captain Erik Karlsson, Derick Brassard or Cody Ceci all of whom exited the weekend debacle early with injury - but all are expected in the lineup for Game 6. Mark Borowiecki is also a possibility to draw back in for the first time since the opening round against Boston. Reloading against an opponent vying for back-to-back Stanley Cups means reverting back to strengths of the club, Boucher said.
Ottawa squeezed the life out of Pittsburgh’s attack in true Senators fashion during the opening three games of the best-of-seven series, but failed in dropping Games 4 and 5.
In the latter in Pittsburgh on Sunday, the head coach thought his group got over-excited and tried to trade goals with a lethal offence, and by the end of the first period the Penguins had built a 4-0 lead. Boucher didn’t think it was wise to try to play like a team that scored more goals than any other NHL squad during the regular season.
Following the 7-0 loss, he said that everyone “on the planet” knew the defending champs were the better team and his group, as a result, required its “very, very best.”
“If we stay away from our strengths there’s no chance,” Boucher said on Monday. “We’re aware of that. We got slapped - hard enough. The reality sets back in.”
If there was one lesson from the latest defeat, veteran Marc Methot believed it was staying firm on the gas as far as that tight defensive structure is concerned, “because any opportunity where there’s a lapse in judgment or a mistake on the ice there’s a good chance one of those top two lines will capitalize on you.”