Sens say pressure is all on the Rangers
The Ottawa Senators don’t have anybody named David on their roster, but they’re sure acting like they’re up against Goliath.
As they continued preparations for Thursday’s series opener against the New York Rangers at the Canadian Tire Centre, the Senators wasted little time trying to place all the pressure squarely on the shoulders of their opponent in the Eastern Conference semifinal.
To hear the Senators tell it, all the heat is on the Rangers because they’re the ones expected to be a Stanley Cup contender this spring.
“We’re the underdogs for sure,” winger Clarke MacArthur told Postmedia after practice on Wednesday.
Are the Rangers facing a lot of pressure?
“It’s hard to say how they’re looking at it. We’re not feeling any,” MacArthur said. “We’re just going to stick to our game here. It’s just like the start of the year — we were never pencilled in to go anywhere or do anything.
“We also know how much that means in the big picture with where we finished and the fact we’re through the first round now. We’re definitely the underdog going in.”
Senators head coach Guy Boucher, doing the best job he can to get his team ready for the huge challenge the Senators face, took it another step further. Asked what he was expecting from the Rangers, Boucher went in another direction and cited the odds — which are stacked against Ottawa.
“From what I hear from everybody, we don’t seem to have much of a chance,” Boucher said. “The odds are 10-1 in Vegas against us. Everybody seems to think they’re going to roll all over us, so I guess they’re a pretty good team.
“They’ve got four-line depth, they’ve got speed, they’ve got quality players on all lines and I think their defencemen have very good sticks. They’re a great breakout team because of their defence and (goaltender Henrik Lundqvist) was outstanding in the first round. That’s exactly what we’re expecting.”
Boucher has the utmost respect for the Rangers, but he also suggested their window to win a Stanley Cup is starting to close.
“They don’t have many flaws, but I also know they’re getting urgency now to win that Cup because they’ve been talking about it for many years now,” Boucher said. “That’s how we consider those guys Stanley Cup contenders year after year and that’s what they’re after now, so that’s what we’re up against.”
That’s certainly a tall order for the Senators, but it should be noted the Rangers had only four more points than Ottawa’s 98 during the regular season. The Senators were 2-1-0 against New York during the regular season, so it’s not like this is a total mismatch.
It’s in the Senators’ best interest to play the underdog card because the reality is not many people are picking them. The Rangers sent the Montreal Canadiens off to an early summer in Round 1 with a solid effort in a six-game series, and the Blueshirts will provide a much different test than Ottawa faced against the Boston Bruins, who were hurting with injuries on the blue-line and don’t have the depth the Rangers possess.
“I believe, from doing interviews and stuff like that, we’re the underdogs and I’m fine with that because we’re playing a really good team,” defenceman Dion Phaneuf said. “They’ve got a great goaltender. We’ve got a good team, we’ve got a really good goaltender, so I think that we’re the underdog.”
But make no mistake: The Senators aren’t satisfied with getting to Round 2.
“We want to win this round,” MacArthur said. “Our goal is to go a lot further, but it’s one step at a time and this is going to be a big, big test against the Rangers. They’re a deep team and they’ve got good pieces everywhere. It’s tough.”