No Canada! Ottawa falls to N.Y. in Game 7 back-breaker
New York takes advantage of rookie errors and advances with 2-1 Game 7 victory
The Rangers hang on for a 2-1 win to eliminate the Senators, the last Canadian team in this year’s Stanley Cup playoffs.
NEW YORK – At the beginning of this season, not many thought the Ottawa Senators would even get to the playoffs, let alone to a Game 7 against the No. 1 team in the East.
So that’s some consolation for Ottawa, a bit of salve.
But in the end, it’s not nearly enough for a team that believed it could go much further, so this 2-1 loss to the New York Rangers will hurt.
With the victory, the Rangers advance and meet the No. 7-seeded Washington Capitals in the second round of the Eastern Conference playoffs.
Daniel Alfredsson, in his 111th playoff game for the Senators, and maybe his last, scored for the Senators on the power play.
“It’s an empty feeling,” Alfredsson said. “Especially when the game goes down to the last seconds, like it did tonight. We hurt. It’s tough. We played a hard-fought game.
“We played really good at times, (made) a couple of mistakes that kind of cost us, then Henrik (Lundqvist) made some good saves in the third to keep it a one-goal game.”
Alfredsson, 39, said he hasn’t begun to think about his future, but will address the issue over the next little while and decide if he’s able to play another season.
Marc Staal and Dan Girardi scored for the Rangers.
Craig Anderson faced 29 shots for the Senators, while Lundqvist played a spectacular game, making 26 saves.
Anderson initially left the ice without shaking hands, but quickly realized he’d better get back out.
“It was a mind fart on my part,” he said. “Nothing intentional at all.”
But that was the only thing that brought the semblance of a smile to his face. He was as disappointed as anyone in the room.
“We’ve gotten this far this year and we know the feeling,” he said. “Last year we knew the feeling of not making the playoffs.
“This feeling doesn’t feel any better because we lost, but we were able to enjoy the game for a couple of weeks longer than we were last year.
“We’re going to have a fresh start next year. Every game of experience is going to help for the guys going forward. We’re already looking forward to next season.”
The Rangers broke the scoreless tie in the second period and jumped to a 2-0 lead in the first 10 minutes thanks to mistakes f rom Ottawa’s two rookie defenceman, Jared Cowen and Erik Karlsson.
Cowen made the first mistake in the fifth minute by moving up to drive Rangers captain Ryan Callahan into the boards. It was an untimely decision. When the puck popped loose to Derek Stepan, Cowen was caught and the Rangers were off on a 3-on-1.
Stepan put a pass through Sergei Gonchar’s legs to Staal, who had an open left side.
Four minutes later, Karlsson gave Girardi an opening when he moved away from the front of the net to help with coverage in the right corner.
That left no one to watch Girardi, who skated in toward the left post unmarked and found an open left side on Anderson.
Before it got out of control, Alfredsson cut the lead to 2-1 two minutes later with a power-play goal, beating Lundqvist on the short side with a shot from the top of the left circle. It looked as if Anton Stralman was screening Lundqvist, or else it was a very bad goal.
There wasn’t much to pick between the teams in the first period, except that the Senators had the advantage of the lone power play when Brandon Dubinsky got caught for holding Jason Spezza.