After last night’s 5-1 win, I’m sure all Senators fans are extremely happy. All of a sudden the series that was once 3-0 for the Canadiens is now 3-2, and Ottawa is headed home for game six. At this point, the Montreal players and fans must be getting nervous, because anything can happen in a game seven. They’ve blown two games so far, and anything more would be an embarrassment for them. Ottawa fans want to look for optimism online, and you have come to the right place.
I was thinking about some reasons to be optimistic, and here are five reasons why Ottawa can complete the historic comeback:
1. THEY’VE BEEN HERE BEFORE
This team has already faced so much adversity. In case you haven’t heard (who hasn’t?), they broke the record for the biggest comeback for a team outside of a playoff spot, being 14 points out. They had to win basically every game they possibly could in order to just get into the playoffs. A little 3-0 lead in the playoffs doesn’t seem like much to them, and we’ve seen so far that they aren’t fazed by it.
Although this is the youngest team in the playoffs, they know what it’s like to come back from the depths of despair. If they pulled this off, they would go down in history as an even bigger legends.
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2. THEY CAN BEAT PRICE
Price is shown as a God on CBC, but Ottawa has beaten him before. Last game he did have a bit of bad luck, but he still allowed five goals. He’s actually been outplayed by Andrew Hammond and Craig Anderson this series, so it’s not as if it’s impossible to beat this years probable Hart winner. Here’s what the numbers are like this series:
Updated series results:
— Tyler Ray (@DefenseMinister) April 25, 2015
Hammond/Anderson combined SV% .951
Price .922
Someone's getting badly outplayed, I'll let reporters take this..
Price can be beat, and it’s not unheard of like the media is making it seem like.
3. DUE FOR SOME LUCK
In the first three games Ottawa scored first, yet each time they ended up losing by one goal. Two of those games ended in overtime too. In games four and five Ottawa scored first again, but this time they were able to hold down the fort. Although they have been outshot this series, it’s not like Montreal deserved to be up 3-0 with such close wins.
The Hockey God’s owe us to bring this series at least to game seven, and then “anything can happen” as they say. The Senators have never won a game seven, but this team of destiny may buck that trend.
4. BETTER SPECIAL TEAMS
The Montreal power play looked more lethal in the first two games, but so far they have actually only scored one power play goal, with an abysmal 5.3% rate. In contrast, Ottawa has the second best unit these playoffs, with a 31.2% power play. Despite not getting the greatest calls, Ottawa has taken advantage of Montreal’s penalties. The Senators have taken many more penalties throughout the series, but I doubt it will be so one-sided in the next two games.
Whoever has a hotter power play/penalty kill may be the winner of this series, and as of now Ottawa has been much better. Putting Patrick Wiercioch with Erik Karlsson has worked wonders, and I wouldn’t bet against their first unit right now.
They are already half way there, and the magic is still alive and well
5. MAGIC
This is the last and most inexplicable reason, but I think everyone can agree on this. Ever since February this team has just felt different, like they are destined to win. Every time it seemed like they were going to fall out of it, they came back. I can’t explain it, and nobody can. But they just never seem like they are finished, and a little 3-0 deficit in a series doesn’t seem like much.
This season just seems different compared to other years, and I think the fans aren’t as cynical as before. The fans were due for some rainbows and unicorns, and maybe this is the year the team makes some noise. They are already half way there, and the magic is still alive and well.
It’s still a big mountain to climb, no doubt. But game six is at home, and there’s no excuses to lose there. The Senators seem to play much better at home in the playoffs, and I think it will be a big boost. If they survive tomorrow, then it’s just a one game playoff and everything is back to square one.
I don’t know why, but I have lots of faith. This team can do it, and don’t be shocked to see on Tuesday the 2014-15 Ottawa Senators to be the fifth team to ever come back from a 0-3 series deficit. Keep the faith, Sens fans.