It kills me to say this, but I don’t see playoffs in the immediate future for the Ottawa Senators. It may have been a possibility, but after a crushing loss like last night’s, I don’t think they’ll be able to recover.
Mandatory Credit: Jean-Yves Ahern-USA TODAY Sports
GAME RECAP
It was a rough start for the Senators, not being able to get possession off any of the first three faceoffs. Kyle Turris won the third faceoff, but Daniel Briere got to the puck first, bringing it in to the Senators end, and sent a shot through a few bodies. Robin Lehner had no idea where it was until it was in the back of the net. The Canadiens had the lead just 38 seconds into the period. It took less than three minutes for the Senators to tie the game, however. Erik Karlsson tried to send a pass to Clarke MacArthur on the rush, put the pass bounced over his stick, sending it to Jason Spezza. Spezza fired a shot top shelf, beating Carey Price.
The second period only had one goal, but what a goal it was. Karlsson made a tape-to-tape pass to Zack Smith from the Senators end to the offensive blue line, sending him on a breakaway. Price stopped the first shot, but Smith managed to put in the rebound to give the Senators the lead.
The first of the five third period goals was Ales Hemsky‘s first as an Ottawa Senator. Milan Michalek took the puck all the way down the rink, getting it to Spezza behind the Canadiens net. Spezza sent the no-look pass to Hemsky who roofed it on Price. The next was a great play by the MacArthur-Turris-Ryan line. Ryan sent the puck from one corner of the Canadiens end to the other, which was occupied by Turris. Turris sent a perfect pass to MacArthur, whose slap shot found the back of the net. Then with only three and a half minutes to go, things got crazy. Lars Eller brought the Canadiens within two by burying the rebound off of Brian Gionta‘s shot. Fast forward just over a minute later. This time Gionta’s shot found the back of the net, separating the score by only a goal with 2:04 remaining. Then the Senators managed to collapse even more. David Desharnais tied the game with less than a second remaining. Off to OT.
Overtime didn’t last long. Francis Bouillon scored just under a minute and a half in to complete the comeback for the Canadiens. I just can’t figure out how the whistle wasn’t blown after Lehner not only had possession of the puck for at least 5 seconds, but the ref lost sight of it. That’s an automatic whistle.
NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS
- The Senators became the first team in NHL history to lose after having a three goal lead with five minutes remaining.
- This team is frustrating beyond belief. As soon as you think they fixed their problems, those problems show up again. This time with only five minutes left.
- I feel sick. Not really important, but still an observation.
UP NEXT
The Senators are back home to take on the Colorado Avalanche on Sunday afternoon. They’ll need to come out strong after the disappointing loss on Saturday, but it will be tough playing twice in less than 24 hours.