ECSF | Ottawa Senators defeat the New York Rangers 4 games to 2

[Sens Rule]

Guy Boucher saying "at least we won't lose in 4 games" after game one now seems like the ultimate troll job.

Well it was fully intended that way.

 

[SpezDispenser]

Raise your hand if you believed the Sens would make it to the ECF before the season.

Also, if there's one single guy I'm rooting for right now, it has to be Craig Anderson. (and Clarke McArthur)

That's true, Clarke MacArthur's story is one of the best stories in the league this year. So close to hanging them up.

 

[Sens Rule]

That's true, Clarke MacArthur's story is one of the best stories in the league this year. So close to hanging them up.

I can't believe after so much time off he plays like vintage MacArthur! So good!

Maybe at 32 being super healthy by not playing much is better than being sharper by regularly playing.

We are seeing great high IQ and compete level hockey from MacArthur! Love that guy!

 

[BruinLVGA]

Going into the series, Carlo and Krug out were huge, but Krejci was expected to return. Ottawa looked healthy by comparison, but Karlsson was playing on a broken foot, like Krejci, Methot was to miss game one but was expected back at some point in the series, and Stone, Smith, Ryan and Ceci were all coming back early from late season injuries.

Having said that, just going by the 21 analysts at NHL.com, 9 had Ottawa winning, while 12 had Boston. ESPN also had Boston (overwhelmingly) with 9 out of 12 analysts picking Boston.

That doesn't sound like serious underdogs to me, though continuing to sustain injuries as the series went on certainly affected things.

Indeed I meant with all the injuries we had. Couple this with Bergeron's sports hernia (had surgery two days ago) and Rask (groin surgery, had it done yesterday), and yup, injuries affected the Bruins big time. They could only be underdogs with all that.

 

[Sens Rule]

Indeed I meant with all the injuries we had. Couple this with Bergeron's sports hernia (had surgery two days ago) and Rask (groin surgery, had it done yesterday), and yup, injuries affected the Bruins big time. They could only be underdogs with all that.

Totally. Mad respect to the Bruins for playing through all those key injuries so well.

Luckily as a Sens fan it seems our injury crisis happened throughout the season and now we are very healthy.

 

[Micklebot]

Indeed I meant with all the injuries we had. Couple this with Bergeron's sports hernia (had surgery two days ago) and Rask (groin surgery, had it done yesterday), and yup, injuries affected the Bruins big time. They could only be underdogs with all that.

And if a whole bunch of (additional) undisclosed injuries on the sens roster get revealed after the playoffs are over, what then?

 

[SpezDispenser]

I can't believe after so much time off he plays like vintage MacArthur! So good!

Maybe at 32 being super healthy by not playing much is better than being sharper by regularly playing.

We are seeing great high IQ and compete level hockey from MacArthur! Love that guy!

Everyone loves Grizz, but I don't see him as anywhere close to 100% yet. I think it'll be close to game 50 (just a guess) of next year before he's the old MacArthur.

 

[alfstheman]

And if a whole bunch of (additional) undisclosed injuries on the sens roster get revealed after the playoffs are over, what then?

But the sens players were healthy enough to play. Bruins shouldof been consensus underdogs, but not by much as they still had an amazing first line that was dangerous everytime they stepped on the ice. Sens had depth and had extra bodies to choose from.

I think ppl judge the sens based on the regular season and our negative goals for/against margin, but anyone who watches the sens regularly know that we battled through massive amounts of injuries all season.

Meanwhile a fully healthy sens lineup showed everyone that we wont be walked-over. Will be a tough battle vs pens/wash but with the character and depth of our guys they wont make it easy. Was a good close series Rangers, couldof gone either way. Best of luck in the future!

 

[Sens Rule]

Everyone loves Grizz, but I don't see him as anywhere close to 100% yet. I think it'll be close to game 50 (just a guess) of next year before he's the old MacArthur.

Disagree. Boucher is limiting his playing time and not using him on the PK or anything. But MacArthur is fully MacArthur. He makes every Senator he shares the ice with better. He is fiesty and physical and a leader. He is smart and has decided games late by scoring or making a deft assist.

MacArthur is MacArthur. Even if Boucher is cutting 2/3 mins from his icetime intentionally.

All the good things he does... he is still doing. He does not play a peripheral game or fear contact or anything.

No one should understate the return of MacArthur. He is still the 20 goal 50 point pace leader and fiesty competitor he always was.

 

[DarrylshutzSydor]

Disagree. Boucher is limiting his playing time and not using him on the PK or anything. But MacArthur is fully MacArthur. He makes every Senator he shares the ice with better. He is fiesty and physical and a leader. He is smart and has decided games late by scoring or making a deft assist.

MacArthur is MacArthur. Even if Boucher is cutting 2/3 mins from his icetime intentionally.

All the good things he does... he is still doing. He does not play a peripheral game or fear contact or anything.

No one should understate the return of MacArthur. He is still the 20 goal 50 point pace leader and fiesty competitor he always was.

Rangers got beat by a team playing the trap, can't really applaud that, but if they face Pittsburgh, I will root for Ottawa.

 

[SpezDispenser]

Disagree. Boucher is limiting his playing time and not using him on the PK or anything. But MacArthur is fully MacArthur. He makes every Senator he shares the ice with better. He is fiesty and physical and a leader. He is smart and has decided games late by scoring or making a deft assist.

MacArthur is MacArthur. Even if Boucher is cutting 2/3 mins from his icetime intentionally.

All the good things he does... he is still doing. He does not play a peripheral game or fear contact or anything.

No one should understate the return of MacArthur. He is still the 20 goal 50 point pace leader and fiesty competitor he always was.

While I agree for the most part, there are split second decisions with the puck that are understandably quite rusty for him. I think when he rounds into form after not playing for almost two years, you'll notice a huge difference. And I think he's been really good for the most part, so I'm not putting him down in any way, shape or form.

 

[BruinLVGA]

Totally. Mad respect to the Bruins for playing through all those key injuries so well.

Luckily as a Sens fan it seems our injury crisis happened throughout the season and now we are very healthy.

Injuries are part of the game and the Sens deserved the victory. Great job by your guys. Showed the Rangers what the Sens are made of, too. One can only be proud of that. Plus Karlsson = stellar.

And if a whole bunch of (additional) undisclosed injuries on the sens roster get revealed after the playoffs are over, what then?

As the saying goes: we will cross that bridge when we get to it.

Injuries-wise, I am rather confident - unfortunately - that missing:
- 4 out of the 6 defensemen who were the regulars throughout the season
- a 1C who has lead the league in playoffs points twice
and having:
- Selke extraordinaire Bergeron playing with a sports hernia that was just fixed with a surgery
- starting goalie Rask playing with a groin injury also requiring surgery
is enough to confirm that the Bruins were clearly the underdogs, by sheer bad luck. Injury-wise, this series ended up being like the charge of the light brigade: gallant, but obviously futile.

To recap, we're talking about starting goalie, top two centers, 2/3rds of the defense. Had to play a complete rookie with pretty much zero pro experience as our #2 D, to the tune of 24:40 at the minimum to over 31 minutes. What would FOR SURE make the Bruins underdogs by way of injury, according to you? Having to dress Ray Bourque?

 

[tacogeoff]

Indeed I meant with all the injuries we had. Couple this with Bergeron's sports hernia (had surgery two days ago) and Rask (groin surgery, had it done yesterday), and yup, injuries affected the Bruins big time. They could only be underdogs with all that.

I believe boston was the underdog in round one. Ottawa beat a healthier boston every game this season. Boston didn't have a chance in the first round, healthy or not.

 

[Dagwood]

Rangers got beat by a team playing the trap, can't really applaud that, but if they face Pittsburgh, I will root for Ottawa.

I am just curious, but if a team does not trap or try to limit the oppositions chances by slowing them down...then what type of game are you looking for exactly? Wide open...end to end.. rushes throw caution to the wind? Seems careless to me and in that case, why have defense?

I don't get it

Otherwise, Games were exciting to me. We scored so what's the problem?

 

[OHNOclowe]

Injuries are part of the game and the Sens deserved the victory. Great job by your guys. Showed the Rangers what the Sens are made of, too. One can only be proud of that. Plus Karlsson = stellar.



As the saying goes: we will cross that bridge when we get to it.

Injuries-wise, I am rather confident - unfortunately - that missing:
- 4 out of the 6 defensemen who were the regulars throughout the season
- a 1C who has lead the league in playoffs points twice
and having:
- Selke extraordinaire Bergeron playing with a sports hernia that was just fixed with a surgery
- starting goalie Rask playing with a groin injury also requiring surgery
is enough to confirm that the Bruins were clearly the underdogs, by sheer bad luck. Injury-wise, this series ended up being like the charge of the light brigade: gallant, but obviously futile.

To recap, we're talking about starting goalie, top two centers, 2/3rds of the defense. Had to play a complete rookie with pretty much zero pro experience as our #2 D, to the tune of 24:40 at the minimum to over 31 minutes. What would FOR SURE make the Bruins underdogs by way of injury, according to you? Having to dress Ray Bourque?

Okay. I mean, it's fine to try and justify this all now, but look at the media, look at the fans. They all picked the Bruins. The underdog label was on Ottawa, even if it should have been on the Bruins. Not much point fansplaining things now.

 

[Chimpradamus]

Okay. I mean, it's fine to try and justify this all now, but look at the media, look at the fans. They all picked the Bruins. The underdog label was on Ottawa, even if it should have been on the Bruins. Not much point fansplaining things now.

The fans clearly didn't know about the injuries.

As for the OTT - NYR series, Ottawa had Erik Karlsson, NYR have no one close to him, just an aging Lundqvist, Zuccarello and a whole bunch of pretenders who underperform compared to their bloated salaries, including the coach who can't shut down a game to save his life. That decided this series.

 

[BruinLVGA]

I believe boston was the underdog in round one. Ottawa beat a healthier boston every game this season. Boston didn't have a chance in the first round, healthy or not.

Playoffs hockey =/= regular season.

If regular season = playoffs hockey, then 1. why play playoffs hockey anyway (just give the Cup to the President Trophy winner)? 2. how is it possible that the Bruins won 2 games with a severely depleted team?

 

[BruinLVGA]

Okay. I mean, it's fine to try and justify this all now, but look at the media, look at the fans. They all picked the Bruins. The underdog label was on Ottawa, even if it should have been on the Bruins. Not much point fansplaining things now.

You already reached the conclusion by yourself and agree with me.

 

[OHNOclowe]

Sure. My point is the initial projections are what they are. No point pulling the underdog rug out from under the senators now is there? It's nearly round three.

Bruins have a healthy D and kreiji and it's a different series. Sens still won the season series so I was confident regardless.

 

[Tuna99]

Sure. My point is the initial projections are what they are. No point pulling the underdog rug out from under the senators now is there? It's nearly round three.

Bruins have a healthy D and kreiji and it's a different series. Sens still won the season series so I was confident regardless.

Who cares what the predictions are or what the media thinks. They wrote off Pitt last year and were talking about blowing it up.

Montreal was a pre seasons favorite and they won 2 playoff games. No one picked Nashville to beat the Hawks and they swept them.

Most people in the media don't follow the NHL and just follow the stories. The stories around the team don't tell the story of the team, the play on the ice tells the story. If any of these experts had watched Ottawa this season they would know they are a super tough out, would be a handful for any team in the NHL and they had a legit chance to win the Cup.

The hockey writers are story experts, not hockey experts. And they have reported well on Ottawa this year, but then all got amnesia once the playoff started and now are all acting surprised by their success.

The guys who know Ottawa's team like the opposing GM's and Scouts all said Ottawa was a team they wanted no part of, they saw their style, their goalie, their depth, their grit and knew they had an identity you didn't want to tangle with. And those experts are being proven right.

 

[trentmccleary]

Raise your hand if you believed the Sens would make it to the ECF before the season.

Also, if there's one single guy I'm rooting for right now, it has to be Craig Anderson. (and Clarke McArthur)

I believed that Guy Boucher would probably get them to the 3rd round sometime within 3 seasons of his hire.

Reason: did you see that smoking pile of trash he got to the 3rd in Tampa?

Plus, still happy with the Phaneuf acquisition and the GM spent the year adding a tonne of playoff experience.

 

[HavlatMach9]

Raise your hand if you believed the Sens would make it to the ECF before the season.

I could believe it if I knew McArthur would be back and having Phaneuf for the whole year, and adding smaller pieces.

 

[OHNOclowe]

Who cares what the predictions are or what the media thinks. They wrote off Pitt last year and were talking about blowing it up.

Montreal was a pre seasons favorite and they won 2 playoff games. No one picked Nashville to beat the Hawks and they swept them.

Most people in the media don't follow the NHL and just follow the stories. The stories around the team don't tell the story of the team, the play on the ice tells the story. If any of these experts had watched Ottawa this season they would know they are a super tough out, would be a handful for any team in the NHL and they had a legit chance to win the Cup.

The hockey writers are story experts, not hockey experts. And they have reported well on Ottawa this year, but then all got amnesia once the playoff started and now are all acting surprised by their success.

The guys who know Ottawa's team like the opposing GM's and Scouts all said Ottawa was a team they wanted no part of, they saw their style, their goalie, their depth, their grit and knew they had an identity you didn't want to tangle with. And those experts are being proven right.

The media fuels a lot of opposing fan's mindsets that start out at "easy series win" and then they're crawling back after with "we only lost because..."

The Sens don't have any explaining to do but Bruins and Rangers fans sure seem to want to do all their justifying at us.

 

[tacogeoff]

Playoffs hockey =/= regular season.

If regular season = playoffs hockey, then 1. why play playoffs hockey anyway (just give the Cup to the President Trophy winner)? 2. how is it possible that the Bruins won 2 games with a severely depleted team?

they beat them in both regular season and playoffs. Ottawa is the better team and coming into the playoffs boston was the underdog vs them based on regular season series record and injuries. Yes Boston won two games against Ottawa this whole season, congrats I guess?...... its not rocket science that Ottawa is the better team this year.

 

[Micklebot]

Sure. My point is the initial projections are what they are. No point pulling the underdog rug out from under the senators now is there? It's nearly round three.

Bruins have a healthy D and kreiji and it's a different series. Sens still won the season series so I was confident regardless.

I suspect all the analysts and fans who had Boston ahead of Ottawa suspected that Karlsson, (who was well known to have injured his foot blocking a shot against Philly, and likely had a broken bone, which was later confirmed) wasn't going to be capable of playing up to his usual abilities and carry the team little lone provide a Conn-Smythe level performance, and given how much Ottawa typically relies on him, didn't think the rest of the D corps would be able to handle boston's top line, particularly with Methot seemingly going into the series playing with one hand.

They had probably also seen Stone lumber around to finish the regular season, and knew he simply wasn't himself either.

The thing is, a big reason why Ottawa was able to win was the performance of Karlsson and, to a lesser degree, Methot. Both guys ability to play at the highest level was highly questionable.

Being the underdog isn't about how you actually performed though, or who got injured during the series, it's about expectations going in. That's why injuries to Miller or Krejci getting knocked back out mid series are irrelevant to the underdog label, as they are the result of the series, not the expectation going in. You can argue that the undisclosed injury to Bergeron should factor in, but he played through that for a good chunk of the year if I'm not mistaken, so the level people would have expected from him was at least in part based on his performance with that injury going in.