How did Ottawa get within 1 game of the Cup Final last year?

[Seanaconda]

The Atlantic bracket was absolute ass, not sure how they took the Pens to game 7 OT though

Pens won while being not a great team last year

 

[KingBilly]

As a frustrated Sens fan, I am telling you it could happen again next year. They've been like this for the past decade. Totally unpredictable, except that they won't win the cup. Could be last, could be bubble, could be first. And it could be either of those next year, assuming they don't trade Karlsson in the meantime.

They really earned that last year. Not protecting Methot was a big deal. Methot was Karlsson's partner and the only one who knew how to play with him. Karlsson trusted Methot to read the play. Take that away and Karlsson hesitates. And when Karlsson hesitates it affects the whole team. Affects the breakout passes and filters through everything.

Stone and Hoffman also had off seasons. Everyone did. All I am saying is they could be within a goal of the SCF next year, then miss again the following year, and I wouldn't be too surprised. Still frustrated, though.

 

[LeafFever]

This has occurred a lot. Team shave a lot of things go right and then can't repeat it the next year. Karlsson was by far the best player in the playoffs last spring. It wasn't really close.

 

[Beezeral]

They played way above their head in the last year. They played a little below their talent level this year. This regression was predicted by almost everyone outside of Ottawa.

 

[robsenz]

Trap, Solid team mentality with causes to play for BM passing, Pitre, Anderson and MacArthur, Playoff format worked heavily in their favor, injuries to opposing players. The Sens aren't as bad as they seem this year, this can easily turn around next year and will likely do so.

 

[613Leafer]

To me it really boils down to having a lucky run where they were firing on almost all cylinders for a month or so.

They were the only playoff team last year with a negative goal differential, which is NOT indicative of a good team.

They were a bubble team, and got hot at the right time. That's about it.

 

[Sensfan5]

Since 2007-2008

2007-2008: got off to a historic start, looking unbeatable, only to collapse, squeak into the playoffs, swept by Pittsburgh,

2008-2009: Miss the playoffs

2009-2010: decent year, make the playoffs as the 5th seed thanks to 10~ game winning streak, lose to Pittsburgh in 6

2010-2011: one of the worst teams in the league, acquire Anderson, and we end finishing 26th (New Jersey won the lottery, moving from pick 8 to pick 4, bumping the sens to pick 6, which was Zibanejad)

2011-2012: low expectations, peksy sens emerge, we unexpectedly make the playoffs, lose the NYR in 7

2012-2013: lockout shortened year, we lose everyone, karlsson, Anderson, Spezza, among others, still make the playoffs, knock off Montreal in a spectacular series, lose to Pittsburgh in the round 2

2013-2014: miss the playoffs, I literally don’t remember anything from this season.

2014-2015: start the year horribly, and go on the historic hamburglar run to make the playoffs, go down 3-0 to Montreal, start to claw our way back, early whilstle negates a tying goal, series over

2015-2016: inconsistent, leaky defence, miss the playoffs

2016-2017: boucher comes in, brings his (in)famous defensive approach, many things glue the team together, go on the playoff run

2017-2018: no comment

So all in all, no one knows what the sens will do in any given season. If they finish atop the division or at the bottom next season, neither would surprise me anymore.

 

[bert]

they're a mediocre team that got lucky last year. and unlucky this year.

they will be bottom 5 to 10 next year too with potential for bottom 2 or 3 if some things go bad.

If you look at the history of this team and Roster there is very little chance they are a bottom team unless there is some kindof fire sale. But you consistently shit on the team so im not suprised you said that.

Not suprising to see the same people ripping on the team all year long are the same ones driving the bus in this thread. Oh and that they are almost all Leaf fans. Stay classy leaf nation.

 

[Captain Mountain]

Luck plays a bigger factor in hockey than most want to admit.

Also, they had much better goaltending last year and their D was worse this year.

 

[Sensfan5]

You what they say about luck, you have to be good to be lucky and lucky to be good

 

[aufheben]

Their season has been such a surprising disaster it's crazy to think how close they were to not only playing Nashville for the Cup, but having home-ice advantage! (if they score in OT game 7, they would have hosted game 1 vs. the Preds)

How did a team that last year have things go so right suddenly have a ton of things go so wrong this year?

Was it the same issue of other Canadian playoff teams crashing back to Earth (ie Edmonton/Montreal/Calgary) or a reverse Winnipeg?

You answered your own question.

 

[Warden of the North]

Ridiculous goaltending

 

[FlameChampion]

I think they had pretty good depth. Not a lot of star players but a lot of good players. I think their system that they played works better in playoffs than regular season. Sort of similar to Kings of the past. Had great goaltending and obviously one of the best defenseman in the world.

 

[Irishguy42]

Guy Boucher system frustrated teams. Going from 11th to 30th in goals against makes me think opponents figured it out.

So...how Boucher teams normally go.

 

[joe dirte]

If you look at the history of this team and Roster there is very little chance they are a bottom team unless there is some kindof fire sale. But you consistently **** on the team so im not suprised you said that.

Not suprising to see the same people ripping on the team all year long are the same ones driving the bus in this thread. Oh and that they are almost all Leaf fans. Stay classy leaf nation.

the history of the team?

2 of the 3 years prior they missed the playoffs by decent margins, and the last they were well on their way to missing the playoffs badly until a rookie goaltender went on a huge fluke run, which the entire world knew would never happen again (that goalie isn't really even in the NHL anymore).

there is nothing in the recent history of the team to suggest they are anything more than a bubble team, and that's on a really good day. more realistically they're longer term trend is about an 85 point team. and the roster coincides with that.

they've caught lightning in a bottle twice now, and this past year it's caught up with them and they've gotten the crap end of the luck stick.

they may not be a bottom 2 or 3 team (although with a couple of things not going their way it's clearly possible. there isn't much talent there). but they're not really a playoff team either.

 

[Stand Witness]

I have a checklist of things in the order of importance:

1) Goaltending
2) Karlsson
3) Luck

Yes, luck... especially when you combine that with the best defensemen in the league and goaltending that is performing as some of the best in the league.

 

[Sensinitis]

They played way above their head in the last year. They played a little below their talent level this year. This regression was predicted by almost everyone outside of Ottawa.

Almost everyone outside of Ottawa predicted a 30th overall finish?

 

[tony d]

Karlsson playing well did it. Also Ottawa played great when it mattered most. I think that Duchene trade really set them back this year.

 

[Beezeral]

Almost everyone outside of Ottawa predicted a 30th overall finish?

no I said they predicted a regression. Which they did.

 

[Help]

Variance in 7-game series do be like that

 

[Cyborg Yzerberg]

Erik Karlsson.

 

[PlamsUnlimited]

AV, that's how

 

[joe dirte]

Almost everyone outside of Ottawa predicted a 30th overall finish?

I think he means A regression. not necessarily THIS one.

the prediction threads at the beginning of the season were FULL of people predicting the sens miss the playoffs and sens fans responding with "that's fine underestimate us, we will show you".

claims of "we are even better than last year" and claims of legit contender status were being thrown around.

 

[613Leafer]

They were a consistent bubble team when they had good goaltending, getting a lower seeded playoff spot one year, and out the next, for several years on end.

Anderson was crap this year. If you take a team that's a bubble team when it has good goaltending, and swap that for the 2nd worst team save % in the league, you're going to finish right near the bottom.

Anderson is 37 next season, and they now have worse centre depth than before. Very likely bottom 5 again next year, unless goaltending rebounds and several players exceed expectations.

 

[Sensinitis]

I think he means A regression. not necessarily THIS one.

the prediction threads at the beginning of the season were FULL of people predicting the sens miss the playoffs and sens fans responding with "that's fine underestimate us, we will show you".

claims of "we are even better than last year" and claims of legit contender status were being thrown around.

Lots of HF posters seem to have a grudge or a bone to pick with the Sens, for some reason that I will never understand. And it looks like you can add certain Rangers and Bruins fans to that list after what happened last season in the playoffs. That same pretty big group of posters would have predicted the same thing this summer if the Sens had gone on another playoff run. It would have been "luck", again. And they would suck next season, again.

Did they predict that one of the most important top 6 forwards of the run, Clarke MacArthur, would not suit up for one game this season? No Sens fan did.
Did they predict that one of the main reason of the Sens success last season, their goaltending, would run them to the ground?
Did they predict that Karlsson wouldn't get his game back until about January, after a summer with no working out post-surgery?

Those are just a couple of real examples of why the Sens sucked this year, and imo it wouldn't be fair to credit those biased posters for their "predictions", because for the most part those predictions stemmed from a bias against the Sens and were fact-blind, rather than realistic projections like the ones I stated above.