Ottawa finds a way to fight another day
Written off more than once, Senators head to Pittsburgh with shot at Stanley Cup final
OTTAWA— Unbelievable.
That’s the word that sums up the Ottawa Senators’ unlikely Stanley Cup playoff run, one that continues to Thursday’s decisive Game 7 after a remarkable 2-1 victory against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday.
Mike Hoffman’s shot from the wing just 1:34 into third was the difference as Ottawa — predicted by many not to make it out of the first round — found a way to rally from two consecutive losses and an early 1-0 deficit in Game 6 to extend their season at least one more game.
Bobby Ryan also scored for Ottawa. The Senators got a standout performance from goalie Craig Anderson, who had been iffy in a 7-0 loss in Game 5.
Evgeni Malkin scored for the Pen- guins, who had trouble putting the Washington Capitals away in the second round, needing a Game 7 after taking a 3-1 series lead.
In a Stanley Cup playoffs about as predictable as the butterfly effect or chaos theory, the Ottawa Senators stand out. They’re a Canadian team that can’t sell out a conference final game. Their best player, defenceman Erik Karlsson, has one good foot. Overall, they allow more goals than they score. And they couldn’t — at least until Tuesday — score on the power play.
The Senators were bolstered by a loud — if not completely sold out — crowd at the Canadian Tire Centre. They outskated Pittsburgh through the first half of what was a scoreless first period. The Penguins found their legs later in the period.
That carried over into the second. The Penguins had a goal called back on goalie interference — a talking point since so many goals in other series have not been called back for lesser offences — but established a 1-0 lead on Malkin’s singular effort to beat Anderson.
The Senators were blessed with a 5-on-3 for 1:24 and got the equalizer on Ryan’s wrist shot to the short corner on Murray. It was Ryan’s sixth goal of the playoffs, and — oddly — Ottawa’s first power play goal of the Eastern Conference final.
The Penguins had a 34-19 lead in shots, but the score was tied, after 40 minutes. The Ottawa Senators — like they have all season — hung around.
It really is hard to know exactly how good the Senators are: Are they one of the four best teams in the NHL? Or one of the four luckiest? They also benefited from a wonky playoff bracket. They were the 12th best team in terms of points in the regular season, and faced the 13th best team in the first round (Boston) and the ninth best (New York) in the second round.
Pittsburgh’s road has been much tougher, even as the second best team in the league. They played the third best team (Columbus) and best (Washington) through the first two rounds. And the Penguins’ list of injuries were much greater. They are without their top defenceman in Kris Letang and played without Sidney Crosby (concussion) and Bryan Rust (concussion) for a spell against Washington.
Ottawa had injuries too, not to the same level. Alexandre Burrows and Mark Borowiecki were missed. And Karlsson played on one good foot, a remarkable, myth-building feat, and one of the magical memories that have happened so far during a playoffs filled with surprises.
Take, for example, that the Nashville Predators have made the Stanley Cup final. The Predators were seeded eighth of eight teams in the Western Conference, and were 16th in points among the 16 teams that made the playoffs. They are the first 16th overall team to make the final.
The Predators had as many points — 94 — as the Islanders and Lightning, two Eastern Conference teams that failed to make the playoffs. Yet they swept the mighty Chicago Blackhawks in the first round and kept going.
“What it is an indication of is the parity in the league,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. “I think there’s a fine line between winning and losing in this league. For me, I have so much respect how good this league is and how good these teams are.
“It’s hard to make the playoffs, and so that’s how good the league is. So I think, if respective teams don’t go into a game with a certain readiness, you’re going to run the risk of getting beat.”’
Ottawa’s Chris Kelly was a member of the Boston Bruins for their 2011 Stanley Cup run.
“You need so many things to go right for you in order to have success,” Kelly said. “You need luck, you need goaltending, you need health and you need your team to be playing their best hockey at the right time.
“If you have all four of those, you have a good chance. Not for certain, but you have a chance.”