Saying Goodbye To The 2014-15 Ottawa Senators, A Look Back At The Season That Was
By Jack Leiper
February 26, 2015; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Ottawa Senators goalie Andrew Hammond (30) defends the goal against the Los Angeles Kings during the first period at Staples Center. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports
March: The Playoff Run
An incredible run began in March. The Senators would finish the season 24-4-4 as they were the team’s hottest squad leaving March.
March began with the NHL trade deadline. While deals were made league wide, the Senators held their ground. I can remember James Duthie calling the Senators 5-game winning streak before the deadline “fool’s gold” and using that as reasoning to why the Senators did not make a move. Bryan Murray discussed a few small deals with rumours mainly surrounding Erik Condra and Patrick Wiercioch. Neither were moved and both played a big part in Ottawa’s late success.
The Sens’ 3rd line of Condra-Pageau-Lazar was formed and became a huge part of the team and after not dealing Condra, Murray’s team found some depth success.
Looking back on it now, we can congratulate Andrew Hammond for his regular season success. At the time we were all asking the question.. when is this going to end? and it didn’t.. at least not in the regular season. You might call Hammond Ottawa’s MVP this season as he can be held responsible for getting Ottawa into the playoffs.
- Mark Stone begins to play at a PPG pace, putting him in the middle of Calder Talk
- Erik Karlsson is also at the middle of the Senators success, as he is mentioned for Norris talk.
- UPDATE: with today’s news, both Karlsson and Stone have been nominated for the Norris and Calder, respectively.
April: The Playoffs
The end was exciting. The last few weeks of the season saw Boston eclipse Ottawa and vice versa. At the end of the day, a few Boston losses mixed with Ottawa winning their last 4 led to an Ottawa playoff birth and the final stage in what was easily the best Ottawa Senators season I’ve ever watched.
The ups and downs, the end story and the playoffs. That’s how it was drawn up for the Senators this season and it couldn’t have came with a better regular season ending.
Ottawa saw (arguably) their most incredible game of the year during early April, one where they narrowly avoided a loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins by overcoming a 3-0 lead early in the game. Mark Stone and Kyle Turris were at the height of their games at that point as Stone scored two and Turris help drive Stone’s success.
A fantastic end to the season and an end that saw the Senators go 5-0-1 in their final 6 games.
The playoffs didn’t start well. A 3-0 series deficit proved to be too much to handle. Carey Price hasn’t lost 4 games in a row this season and he didn’t this series. A well fought back series led in a 4-2 defeat and one where, quite frankly could have gone to either side.
Regardless of how the playoffs ended, the Senators have lots to look forward to and you’ve got to love the positivity fans have showed even after their playoff exit.
- 5-0-1, just that Leafs SO loss holding the Senators from being perfect to finish the year.
- Mark Stone. Unbelievable. Kyle Turris. 1st Line Center. A ton of awesome stories/players to follow late this year.
- And the Hamburglar. It didn’t work out in the playoffs, but man. What a run it was. You have to think that in years to come, Senators fans will look back on 2014/15 and maybe the year the franchise turned around.
There’s the season. I feel like I’ve said it 5 or so times now, but wow. What a year, here’s to 14-15 and to looking forward to 15-16 as the Senators enter the year with something they haven’t liked in previous years.. expectations.