What Do the Ottawa Senators Have To Do To Close Out Round 1?
Quentin Young breaks down the mystery that every Ottawa hockey fan wants answered.
Game One kicked off to what is a highly physical matchup between the Boston Bruins and the Ottawa Senators.
The final tallies added up to 2–1 in favour of Boston, with goals coming from Frank Vatrano and Brad Marchand of Boston and Ottawa’s lone goal coming from Bobby Ryan (hey, Tanner Glass scored too!).
Ottawa must continue to play physical and continue to play the grinding game they’re known for. They shed the “Pesky Sens” tag last season following the miracle run with Andrew Hammond in 2015.
Perhaps the Senators must be pesky once more.
Head coach Guy Boucher’s defensive systems have led to plenty of one goal games this season, and it looks like we’re headed for more. The Senators do an excellent job of shutting down offence from other teams, but again and again find themselves unable to score. Craig Anderson has had himself a season. So has Sens captain Erik Karlsson, but evidently it’s not enough to beat the Bs easily.
That said, with guys like Bobby Ryan and Clarke MacArthur playing excellent hockey so far, there should be some secondary scoring generated before the end of this series.
Jean-Gabriel Pageau has been easily one of the most effective players for Ottawa. Laying hits is no easy feat for a guy coming in at (likely boosted) 5’10 and weighing 180. Instantly noticeable on the ice all game (aside from the scoresheet), he and Derick Brassard both dazzled with their defensive play and ability to jump up the ice.
Game Two. The Sens come up big. Clarke MacArthur scored a goal that led to one of the most special celebrations of the year. A quote from Ottawa coach Guy Boucher captured the magic; “When (MacArthur) raised his arms, the whole city raised its arms.” Boucher added that he had goosebumps.
Capped off with a stellar effort from defenceman Dion Phaneuf on an overtime game winner, Ottawa captured its first win of the postseason.
Game Three against Boston ended last night with another Ottawa OT win. Boston’s David Krejci returned to the lineup, but he wasn’t able to put the Bruins over the edge. With more production from Ryan and Brassard tonight, as well as two much needed goals from Mike Hoffman, the formula appears to be working.
Bobby Ryan is the unlikely playoff hero after being targeted in the media all season long over a lack of scoring. The overtime goal came as a result of Ryan’s drawing of a penalty on Riley Nash, who was in tears following the game.
Ottawa leads the series 2–1 and look to extend their lead Wednesday at TD Garden in Boston.
The key for Ottawa to win is more of the same as always; keep the games as close as possible and bank on defence to win them a championship.
In case you were wondering, it won’t, but it might be enough to get them past Boston.
Quentin Young is a sports writer for theocho.ca and a Public Relations student at Algonquin College. Follow him on Twitter at @young_quentin.
