Ideally, a team likes to hit the playoffs fully healthy and firing on all cylinders. The 09/10 Senators did neither. They struggled down the stretch, dropping games to the league's weak sisters. Then, in the penultimate game of the regular schedule, Alex Kovalev suffered a season ending torn ACL. Already without D Filip Kuba for the balance of the year, and with F Milan Michalek still recovering from a serious knee injury, the loss of Kovalev was a huge blow. The guy may be a regular season enigma, but he's money in the post-season. So with a first round playoff series with the defending champion Penguins looming, the Senators were without two key top six forwards who had been relied on to provide secondary scoring depth in the absence of Dany Heatley, and their top minute eating, highest scoring defenseman. Not good.
Michalek returned for Game 1 of the series, but re-injured his knee and was lost for good. Regardless, the Senators came out with a great effort and surprised the Pens 5-4. When Peter Regin whipped a wrister past M-A Fleury just 18 seconds into Game 2, it looked like the Sens might just be able to pull out of Pittsburgh with a pair of road wins. But the champs had other ideas and, thanks to the late game offensive and defensive heroics of Sidney Crosby, evened the series at ones with a 2-1 victory. Though Ottawa went on to lose the next two games at home, it could be argued that Game 2 (not Jason Spezza's much discussed turnover in Game 4) was truly the turning point in the series. The Senators had an opportunity to seize control of the series, and instead played not to lose.
Game 3 in Ottawa was a more closely matched affair than the 4-2 score would indicate. But rookie coach Corey Clouston stubbornly insisted on playing strength on strength with the Spezza line against Sidney Crosby, and Crosby continued to eat the Senators alive. Concerns were also mounting over the performance of second year goaltender, Brian Elliott.
In Game 4, the Senators completely unravelled. The series had been extremely physical to that point, a deliberate strategy by the Senators. It failed miserably. The Pens matched them hit for vicious hit, and it was they who got under the collective skin of the Senators. Emotions boiled and, more often than not, it was a Sen that was left sitting in the box after an undisciplined penalty. It all came to a head in Game 4 with the Senators falling behind 4-0 before rallying somewhat and eventually losing 7-4. Brian Elliott was pulled following the 4th goal, and didn't play again in the series.
Down 3-1 in the series and with the much maligned Pascal Leclaire starting in Game 5 in Pittsburgh, execution at the hands of the Pens seemed inevitable. However, the Sens came out strong and grabbed a 2-0 lead on goals a minute apart in the 1st period, but the Penguins came back to tie with a goal late in the 2nd. The Pens carried all the momentum into the 3rd, eventually taking a 3-2 lead midway in the period. The Senators appeared all but done. But only a minute and a half later, Peter Regin continued his remarkable playoff performance by knotting the score, ultimately sending the game to overtime. In the most exciting Senators playoff game I've ever witnessed, the unlikeliest of heroes, Matt Carkner, netted the winner at 7:06 of the 3rd overtime period, and Pascal Leclaire made a remarkable 59 saves.
The Senators gritty performance in Game 5 won back the disgruntled fan base, and provided a sense of optimism as the team headed back to Ottawa for Game 6. But it wasn't to be. After staking themselves to a dominant 3-0 second period lead, they allowed the Penguins to strike for a goal only a minute later to draw within two. Mike Fisher's goal a little later in the period appeared to be the icing on the cake for the Senators but, after an exceedingly long video review, it was disallowed. The long delay sucked the life out of the crowd and, seemingly, the players as well. The Pens thoroughly dominated the game from that point forward, scoring two goals in the third to tie the game 3-3 and send it to overtime. Pascal Dupuis scored midway through the first overtime to end the Senators season.
As disappointing as it was to bow out in the first round, there's never any shame in losing to the defending champs. The fans ultimately appreciated the scrappy effort of the undermanned Sens. It's the sort of performance that fans here have been crying for since the days of (ex coach) Jacques Martin. Most encouraging was the play of rookies Erik Karlsson, Peter Regin and hard nosed Zack Smith. Karlsson scored at a point per game clip over the six games, not bad for a 19 year old rookie defenseman. And the series was Peter Regin's coming out party. Thrust into a first line role with Jason Spezza due to the Senator's depleted forward corps, Regin scored three goals and turned plenty of heads over the course of the series. Those two youngsters, in particular, are the silver lining in what was a disappointing end to the season.
CODA - Looking Forward
With the season now over and the off-season ahead, the Senators have lots to look forward to, and more than a couple of question marks. The play of Karlsson and Regin, and hopeful maturation of both over the summer and throughout next season, has Sens fans extremely excited. This is the first time in recent memory that the Senators have had two rookies showing so much promise - especially Karlsson who, if he grows out of his elfin frame, will be an absolute stud…probably even if he doesn't.
Once again, goaltending will be a major question mark. Which Brian Elliott will show up next year - the one who backstopped the team to a team record 11 game winning streak, or the one who flamed out against the Pens? And what about Pascal Leclaire? Can he stay healthy for an entire season and , if he does, can we expect the form he flashed against Pittsburgh, or the bottom tier goaltending he came up with during the regular season?
Then there's "l'Artiste" as Habs fans affectionately refer to Alex Kovalev. At 37 years old, will he be able to rehab from such a serious knee injury over the offseason and, if so, will he be effective when he returns in the fall? A large contingent of Sens fans, fed up with Kovalev's seemingly disinterested play, would argue that he isn't effective at full health, and would like to see the last year of his $5M/yr. contract off the books. They may get their wish if he doesn't recover and the Sens can get him onto LTIR.
Finally, and inevitably, there's Jason Spezza. Ottawa's favourite whipping boy has a NTC in his $7M/yr. contract that kicks in on July 1st. Many Sens fans would love nothing more than for GM Bryan Murray to ship Spezza out of town before he's locked in for the duration. I get that Spez can be a frustrating player at times, but there's no questioning his skill and, at 26 years old (27 next month), presumably he's still on the upswing of his development. Furthermore, if you trade your #1 center, how do you replace him? It took years for the Senators to develop the one they have, and those guys don't exactly grow on trees.
It's going to be a very interesting week in Sens Land between the entry draft on June 26th and the opening of free agency on July 1st. Can't wait!!!
P.S. After reading this epic, aren't you glad the Senators got knocked out in the first round?
1 comment:
Awesome stuff as always Pete. I feel like I was front and center all year after reading your wrap-ups. Wait 'til next year!
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