On Saturday night, the Ottawa Senators were fighting for their playoff lives against the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Senators entered Game 4 facing an 0-3 series deficit. One more loss and the season was over.
After a back-and-forth 60 minutes, overtime was needed. Having your season end in overtime is a heartbreaking way to go out. However, Jake Sanderson had other ideas. In the final minutes of overtime, Sanderson scored the overtime winner past Anthony Stolarz to force a Game 5 back in Toronto.
Game 5 in Toronto will be tomorrow night. Once again, the Senators need a win to keep their season alive. For one Senator, he has seen the road before of a Game 4 overtime winner that started an improbable comeback be complete.
Giroux has seen the 0-3 series comeback after Game 4 OT winner
Claude Giroux is one of the most respected veterans in the NHL that is still looking to win the Stanley Cup for the first time ever. For Giroux, he's seen the road before that the Senators are on right now, and it could have insane irony ahead.
It was back in the 2010 Stanley Cup Playoffs when Giroux was a member of the Philadelphia Flyers. Giroux and the Flyers were facing an 0-3 series hole in the second round against the Boston Bruins. In Game 4 of that series, the Flyers and Bruins needed overtime.
With the fear that their season could end at home, the Flyers won Game 4 in overtime to force a Game 5 back in Boston. The Flyers then would force a Game 6 and a Game 7 after winning Game 4.
In Game 7, the Flyers did the unthinkable and came back trailing 0-3 against the Bruins to win the series in seven games. Giroux has seen the road before of his team winning Game 4 in overtime when trailing 0-3 in a series to then winning the series.
The Senators now face that today. Giroux is having a steady 2025 playoffs with being tied for first on the team along with Brady Tkachuk and Sanderson in points on the Senators with three. Back in the 2010 playoffs, Giroux sparkled for the Flyers when he recorded 21 points in 23 games.
Giroux and the Senators will head back to Toronto for Game 5 tomorrow to once again fight off elimination. Four teams in NHL history have came back when trailing 0-3 in a playoff series, and Giroux was on one of those four teams.
The 2025 Senators will attempt to be the fifth team in NHL history to complete the improbable. Tkachuk has already mentioned the 2004 Boston Red Sox coming back from 0-3, so the Senators and their captain are still being positive even with trailing in the series.