Roll the credits.
The Final
Senators 4, Leafs 3 (OT)
How It Happened:
The Sens took an early lead on a Nikita Zaitsev slapshot, and stretched it to 3-1 in the second after Connor Brown scored shorthanded and Parker Kelly scored on a rebound off the boards. The Leafs tied it with minutes to go in regulation, though, forcing what could well have been a letdown of an overtime.
Instead, Brady Tkachuk stole the puck right out of the gate and sent it to Josh Norris to wrap up the game and the season.
Any Fights?
Nope. But Shane Pinto somehow managed to get six penalty minutes. Respect.
Standings:
Vancouver plays in Calgary tonight then plays one last one in Edmonton on Saturday before the three-game set with the Flames, split between Vancouver and Calgary and ending next week. Looking like the Sens might be able to hang on to sixth, but staying in fifth appears impossible.
Toronto: 77 points, 55 games played
Edmonton: 72 points, 55 games played
Winnipeg: 61 points, 55 games played
Montreal: 59 points, 56 games played
YOUR BELOVED OTTAWA SENATORS: 51 points, 56 games played
Calgary: 49 points, 52 games played
Vancouver: 45 points, 51 games played
Senators News:
It was Kelly’s debut, and therefore his first NHL goal. There’s optimism about Victor Mete sticking around next year. And most importantly, the roommates are still gonna be roommates:
Senators Thoughts:
When I tried to pick the most irrelevant Canadian NHL franchise, I didn’t expect to be blessed with such a fun team. Really hopped on the bandwagon at the right time. Or so it seems. Always want to couch things like that. I would hate to be the man who jinxed the Ottawa Senators.
It really does feel like a season finale. Happy ending, everything seems settled, and then we come back for Season 2 and there are all the new problems to go through. Hopefully, those problems will be the problems of growth—the playoff chase, evenly-matched rivalries, finding out the North Division wasn’t that good—things like that.
We’ll try to get a Sens post up every week or so during the offseason, with more (and possibly fewer) as events warrant. So until next week (when I should probably post about where the Senators end up in the standings)…Go Sens Go.
