Ottawa Senators: The Impressive Career Of Alex Burrows
Last night the Ottawa Senators choked away a two goal third period lead. However, lost in the disappointment from last night was a milestone by Alex Burrows. He scored his 200th career goal in the second period last night.
Burrows started his career in the QMJHL but while his performance was decent it didn’t standout enough to draw interest from an NHL team. He went undrafted and would be forced to sign in the ECHL.
Early Days
Never deterred by adversity, Burrows played two seasons in the ECHL to work on his game. He quickly became a point per game player and saw a promotion to the AHL for the 04-05 season. In his first season in the AHL he scored 26 pints in 72 games. However, the next season was when he started to reach his potential. He scored 30 goals in 33 games before being promoted to the Vancouver Canucks. He would stay with the Canucks for the remainder of the season and would become a staple of the Canucks forward group for more than a decade.
Role Player
For the first few seasons of his career Burrows was a role player. He wasn’t expected tos core much, but just do his job and play well defensively. That is until 08=09 when he had his breakout year and scored 51 points. For the next few years he would become a fantastic secondary scoring option for the Canucks during their years of dominance.
Playoff Hero
The highlight of Burrows career would be during game seven of the first round in 2011. The Canucks had been up 3-0 in the series over the Blackhawks. As the President’s Trophy winners, they were heavily favoured. However, after the three wins the Blackhawks began the comeback. They won games four, five, and six to force game seven. In game seven it seemed as if the Canucks had finally got it together as they had a three goal lead. However, the Blackhawks fought back and forced overtime.
In overtime the season of the Canucks held in the balance and it seemed almost destined that the Blackhawks would complete the historic comeback. However, Alex Burrows took matters into his own hands and scored the overtime winner to send the Canucks to the second round.
Next: Ottawa Senators Blow Late Lead, Fall To Devils In OT
Ottawa Senators
In his final years in Vancouver Burrows began to struggle as the Canucks did. However, still a good role player he had value and was traded to the Ottawa Senators last season. He would be an integral part of the Sens bottom six as they went to the Eastern Conference Final.
From undrafted, to role player, to gave seven hero, Burrows has had quite the career. The Ottawa Senators are lucky to have him for this final chapter.