TWO GAMES, THEN EVERYTHING CHANGES
Saturday’s game in Boston marks end of terrible season and start of new beginning
What a difference 11 months makes.
Only 340 days ago, the Ottawa Senators held their final practice of the 2016-17 campaign with a morning skate at the PPG Paints Arena before a heartbreaking 3-2 double-overtime loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference final.
Thursday, they went through the paces during a 50-minute skate under very different circumstances. It was their final full practice of the year as the Senators prepare to close out the regular season Friday against the Penguins and Saturday night against the Bruins at Boston’s TD Garden.
This is the last time this group will be together.
Before sending players packing ahead of the Feb. 26 trade deadline, general manager Pierre Dorion stated he wasn’t the least bit pleased with where this club stood and that changes would be made.
Not only is the future of captain Erik Karlsson uncertain — he’s only one season away from unrestricted free agency — but Dorion and his staff have several other roster decisions to make before the players return to training camp in September.
“That’s the business side of the thing and you’ve got to brace for that,” winger Bobby Ryan, who could be dealt in the offseason, said Thursday afternoon. “I guess you have your parting words on Monday and then you kind of get a feel for what the overall scope is going to be in the summer.
“Pierre wouldn’t be doing his job if he didn’t address it, and that’s tough because this is such a close-knit group that went through a great run last year, not only to get in (to the playoffs) but to get within one game of being a Stanley Cup finalist, to this year.
“I feel like we’ve really let a lot of people down. I can only speak for myself, but we’ll all have to take a long, hard look in the mirror and say, ‘What can you do to be better?’ ”
Ryan, who left the first period of the Senators’ 4-2 victory over the Buffalo Sabres on Wednesday with a lower-body injury, was on the ice and will suit up against the Penguins.
The irony of where this skate was held wasn’t lost on the Ottawa players as the 30th-ranked club nears the finish of what’s been one of the worst years in the recent history of the franchise.
“It’s a different feeling this time around, that’s for sure,” said forward Zack Smith. “It was nice to get out there with the guys. We’re not going to have any more practices this year.
“It’s tough saying it when you say it out loud. This is the real thing. It’s coming to the end for us. We’ve only got a couple of games left. It’s tough. We’re not where we want to be and a lot of people aren’t happy. We’re just trying to make the best of it.
“These two last games that we have aren’t for nothing. Guys are playing for spots next year and we’re still trying to get better all the time. These are still important games for us.”
The Senators have known these two dates were coming for a while. You couldn’t blame them one bit if they just wanted to get it over with. They’ve been officially eliminated for weeks and out of the playoff race for three months.
Really, these games against the Penguins and Bruins are just details, and the best bet is to not let these games get out of hand so they don’t embarrass themselves to finish this bad year.
“I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t hard to get up for these games,” Smith admitted. “You know when you’re out of it, it’s a lot tougher and it’s a lot different feeling at this time of the year than it was last (year).
“You’ve got to make the best of it and you’ve got to get up for it.”
Now that the final two games are here, the stark reality has set in. Once the schedule wraps up Saturday night, they’ll gather as a group Monday for exit meetings and then Tuesday players will start heading their separate ways for what’s going to be a long, drawn out off-season.
“For a while we were out of the mix, and you just kind of put it out of your head and forget about it and deny it to yourself,” Smith said. “Eventually it kind of creeps in and the realization is there that these are our last two games of the year.
“That’s tough but at the same time it’s still a great group of guys we have in here and it’s still fun to come to the rink and to be around the guys.”
All the Senators have left to close out this chapter — if these two games don’t go to overtime — is 120 minutes of hockey. At this point, some of them probably can’t wait for this frustrating season to finish.