SENATORS ARE KEEN TO AVOID ALL-SQUARE SCENARIO AT MSG
Turris goal in OT Saturday gives Ottawa the upper hand heading to New York
It’s up to you, New York.
If the Ottawa Senators are going to advance to the Eastern Conference final for the first time in a decade Tuesday, they’ll have to pull off something in this playoff series they haven’t been able to do thus far and that’s beat the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden. It’ll be the site of Tuesday’s Game 6.
While the Senators were riding a high Sunday as they boarded their charter jet for the Big Apple after pulling off a 5-4 overtime victory Saturday at Canadian Tire Centre, the reality is they only lead the series by a 3-2 count and if they can’t finish off the Rangers Tuesday, it will force a Game 7 in Ottawa Thursday.
The Senators were put in their place by the Rangers in back-toback 4-1 losses last week at the Garden. The club was completely outshot, outplayed and outworked, which has to change quickly. Ottawa needs a strong start.
“Wherever, whenever, we’ve just got to be better. We’ve got to be better than we were there,” Senators coach Guy Boucher told reporters in Ottawa before the club’s departure Sunday. “They’re a great team, but we can’t give them freebies (early in the game). Those freebies at the beginning of the game definitely lift them up and give them confidence in front of their crowd. The crowd is very loud and very intimidating.
“We want to make sure we don’t give them those ones (because) they’re hard enough to beat as it is. The freebies we’ve got to get rid of and it will definitely be (an aspect they focus on) for sure.”
Boucher has been playing the role of underdog throughout this series and he didn’t miss a chance to throw it out in the moments after the win Saturday.
“We’re not kidding ourselves. We needed to win (Saturday) because we know it’s going to be very difficult there. They’re a team, not just with experience, but they’re a team that has so many tools and we know they’re large favourites. We’ve been reminded (two days before Game 5) that we were done. We know how strong they are,” Boucher said.
“I’ve been saying they’re Stanley Cup contenders because of all the tools they’ve got and we certainly expect the next game to be even better than the first game we played there. That’s why we have to figure out how we’re going to be better. Definitely we can’t be like we were the last two times there to even think of getting the result we want. We know how difficult it will be to win there.”
The key for the Senators Saturday was they had guys step up who hadn’t got the job done earlier against the Rangers.
Look at the names of the scorers Saturday: Kyle Turris, Derick Brassard, Tom Pyatt, Mike Hoffman and Mark Stone. All needed to step up for Ottawa to give them the upper hand in the series.
Look, there’s no place like home for either team. The Senators, who are 3-0 at home, knew they had to find a way to bounce back in Game 5 or the deficit may have been insurmountable, but the players aren’t exactly heading to New York with a boatload of confidence. The players swear they won’t look back and only forward.
“We didn’t play well (in New York). There’s no question about that,” said winger Mark Stone, who got the Senators on the board Saturday in the first period when they were trailing 2-0. “You just flush that video and you see what we did here.
“I think when you’re playing (on the road) nothing should change. There’s going to be different matchups on the road, but things shouldn’t change. You should stick to what got you here and there were a couple of simple little adjustments made here (Saturday) that made a big difference.”
During the season, the Senators usually skate at home and then board a flight if they’re hitting the road. Through the playoffs, the Senators have left a day earlier and skated in the visiting city. The club will be on the ice Monday at 11 a.m. at MSG and the approach isn’t going to be anything out of the ordinary.
“We’ll see how we start on Tuesday,” Boucher said. “We obviously can’t look like we did in the two games there or else there’s no chance for us. We’ll have to look into how we continue to look better.”
Were the Senators not themselves the last time they went to New York?
“No, for whatever reason, we didn’t kind of show up,” Brassard said. “Whether it’s the building ... we just have to change the routine maybe. We’ve been good on the road all season long, so I don’t know why we couldn’t steal a game in a playoff series against a good team, but we’ll find a way to do it.”
Yes, they have two chances to close out the Rangers, so there is margin for error, but if Ottawa can get its act together on Broadway, the dream is a big step closer to reality.