Senators will not Advance

The biggest mystery this season has been the sudden collapse of last year’s finalist the Ottawa Senators. After losing to the Anaheim Ducks in last years finals, the Senators got off to a roaring start this season by winning 13 of their first 14 and taking a comfortable lead in the Eastern Conference. From early December until April, the Sens weathered some internal problems including goaltender Ray Emery causing a distraction by his poor work habits and sulking for more playing time. Another issue from the season was finding secondary scoring as at one point their big three of Jason Spezza, Dan Heatley and captain Daniel Alfredsson were injured.  After their stellar start, Ottawa who at their lowest point this year won only 7 of 21, slipped in the Eastern Conference standings from first to finish in seventh place. Ottawa, who still had a respectable 94 points, suffered a serious setback in their second last game of the season against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Alfredsson, who ranked second in team scoring with 89 points, suffered a neck/knee injury and is out for the first round along with Ottawa’s best penalty killer and key face-off man Mike Fischer. Ottawa, who in September was a lot of people’s pick to win the Stanley Cup come into their first round series against the Pittsburgh Penguins as heavy underdogs. That being said, they are a dangerous team as Spezza who scored 92 points and Heatley with 82 are now healthy. On the blueline, they have the second best- shot blocker in Anton Volchenkov (209) who logs a lot of minutes at the backend and finished with a +14 rating. Despite winning the season series against Pittsburgh by losing only once while winning two in regulation and one in overtime, Ottawa will be over their heads playing a hungry team looking for some revenge going back to last year. In the first round last season, Pittsburgh lost in five games to Ottawa but they said they’re a better team this time around. Pittsburgh will have a healthy Sidney Crosby who had 72 points in only 53 games this year. Up and down the lineup, the Pens are a dangerous offensive team led by Evgeni Malkin (106 points), Sergei Gonchar (65 points), Peter Sykora (63 points) and of course Marian Hossa (56 points in 60 games) who was a key trade deadline deal with the Atlanta Thrashers. Even though it happened a couple of seasons ago, Hossa was not very happy after signing a contract with Ottawa and afterwards being traded to the Thrashers in the Dany Heatley trade.

He might have lost a step over the years, but Pens forward Gary Roberts who has recovered from his broken leg seems to enjoy playing Ottawa in the playoffs. This veteran has produced 23 points in 23 playoff games during his career. Also in favor for Pittsburgh is that they have die- hard fans who have packed Mellon Arena for the past consecutive 54 games. With their goaltending issues and injuries, Ottawa doesn’t have a lot of confidence right now and will be eliminated after five games to the Penguins.

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