‘This is the game that matters’
two straight to the New York Rangers in Round 2 to allow them to tie up the semi-final at 2-2 and before Ottawa closed it out with a 4-2 series victory. Sure, but that wasn’t nearly as dire as the situation the club is facing because Ottawa’s season was never on the line.
Yes, the Rangers were talented, but the Penguins are the defending Stanley Cup champions and despite Boucher’s argument to the contrary, Pittsburgh has gotten better in the two straight wins they’ve posted while the Senators have come apart at the seams which means they need to find their game or the season is curtains.
“I don’t see a trend,” said Boucher. “I see one bad game.”
OK, but it’s hard to argue with the fact the Penguins have made adjustments and they shredded the Senators to pieces defensively Sunday plus goaltender Matt Murray has allowed only two goals in the nearly nine periods he’s played since taking over for Marc-Andre Fleury in Game 4.
The Senators would prefer to look forward and not back at their shockingly bad effort in a game that meant so much.
“We talked about it right after the last game: A loss is a loss,” said forward Zack Smith. “It doesn’t change the fact that the guys are embarrassed the way it ended but you’ve got to erase that right away.
“We kind of thought we had that put behind us and then we come out here to do media and then you guys remind us of exactly everything that happened and how bad and how terrible we were but we’ve been putting it behind us since the end of the game. It doesn’t do us any good to dwell on it.
“It’ssomethingforyouguystowrite stories about but in our minds and in the room we’ve put that behind us and we’re focused on tomorrow.”
Boucher said the Senators have to start by playing the right way and he’s hoping the way they lost Sunday will serve as a wakeup call.
“Ifwestayawayfromourstrengths, there’s no chance. We have to put our strengths on the ice,” said Boucher. “We went in last game trying to run and gun it with the best offensive team in the league, and that’s the result we got.
“That’s the result we’re going to get if we run and gun it. We’re aware of that. We got slapped, and hard enough. So the reality sets back in, and we know how we have to play to give ourselves a chance.”
The challenge now is to keep the season alive.
“We’ve got to stay in the moment. I know it’s hard when you’re so close to going to a Cup final,” said winger Viktor Stalberg. “That’s all we can do. We have to find a way to win tomorrow. That’s all we can control.
“This is the game that matters. We can’t look further than that. (Tuesday) night is what matters. We’ve got to come and give all we’ve got. We’ve to stick with our systems, play our systems better than we did the last five periods. We know we can frustrate them and we’ve played with them in this series.
“We’re still confident in our ability. It’s do-or-die and everybody is going to come to put everything on the line tomorrow night.”
The Senators need a win or tomorrow will never come for this team.