Sens Need To Be Proud Of Round 1 Loss
- Too many times I hear that a team losing in the first round is automatically considered a bad season. Obviously the ultimate goal of any pro sports team is to win their respective title, but with all of the intangibles that are required to build a true competitor in a league, I find that it really helps to take a step back and look at things in terms of the bigger picture. If the Ottawa Senators fan base can find a way to do this after their first round loss to the Penguins, then their summer will be much easier to live through.
The Ottawa Senators franchise is just a few years removed from being a perennial powerhouse in the regular season; 11 straight playoff visits from 1997 to 2008, four division titles over the span, and one trip to the Stanley Cup Finals. It seemed that the gas had finally ran out of their tank during the 2007-08 campaign when they were swept by the upstart Penguins less than a year after making it to the Finals against Anaheim. This kind of play over their tenure in the League obviously causes certain expectations for their performance level and it was probably what made their fan bases’ expectations so high going into these playoffs, regardless of their opponent.
The Dany Heatley ordeal was probably one of the most talked about topics during last offseason, and the fact that the team pulled together and survived after losing its’ leading goal scorer from the previous four seasons is pretty impressive. And I’m not even bringing up the amount of pressure and media scrutiny they were under to perform all season because of their lost star.
The positive effects of this deal came out in full force during the playoffs. For the first time since before the lockout, Ottawa was not a one line team; they actually had balanced scoring throughout their lineup, and proved they were difficult to contain when all 18 skaters are on the same page. They actually managed 3.16 goals per game against Marc-Andre Fleury.
Scoring was coming from everywhere for the Sens in round 1; Matt Cullen was tied for the team lead in points with eight (three goals, five assists), Chris Kelly showed a refreshing level of determination in his game and had six points (one goal, 5 assists), and they received very timely scoring from Chris Neil (three goals), Jarkko Ruutu (two goals) and rookie Peter Regin (three goals). These were secondary players stepping up in the absense of both Alex Kovalev and Milan Michalek. Daniel Alfredsson was his usual self and Jason Spezza continued his much improved all around play from the second half of the season.
And while Brian Elliot played more minutes, the Sens better be happy that Pascal Leclaire was able to come in when he did and get their team one extra game. Between games 5 and 6, Leclaire had a .928 sv percentage.
While this season’s loss may sting for a few weeks, it doesn’t take much to take out the positives from their 2009-10 and see that they have a lot of the right pieces needed to contend in the weaker Eastern Conference. Re-signing Anton Volchenkov (28 years old) and adding some more scoring should be key, but Spezza (26), Fisher (29), Karlsson (19), Cowan (19) along with goalies Leclaire (27) and Elliot (25) make up a surpringly young core of players that will be the face of the team for years to come.
Posted by Dave Poleck
on Apr 28 2010. Filed under Northeast, Ottawa Senators.
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