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

[NewtJorden]

Well thats a Guy Boucher thing. Go to game 7 of the Eastern Conference Final in your first year, then sucks completely the second.

 

[Wamsutta]

EK in God Mode dragging the rest of the team kicking and screaming to the ECF. Not much more to it than that.

 

[NyQuil]

there are Cinderella runs, but nobody remembers them unless they make the final. like the sens when they got whooped by Anaheim. that one is worth mentioning, not last year.

So there's nothing memorable about the Leafs for a half century?

Does that mean everyone can shut up about 92/93 already?

They didn't even make it to the final.

 

[TGWL]

They played the Rangers who didn't belong there.

 

[razor8]

A lot of people in this thread saying that EK was the reason. I thought one player couldn't do it all by himself?

Oh, I get it now. If there's a success, it's because of a star player, but if there's a failure, then it's the team.

 

[2XPRO31]

The "luck" argument is so stupid and lazy. Throwing pucks on net looking for bounces and tips is not luck, it's actually a big part of the game. Also at times Lundqvist was downright horrendous that series so why not throw pucks on net he's letting them in from f***ing everywhere.

 

[danielpalfredsson]

Look at it this way.

The Senators during their run had exceptional play from MacArthur, Ryan, Methot, and Anderson. Methot and MacArthur were both gone this season and did not have legitimate replacements. Anderson played poorly to start the year. Ryan came in hot and was one of our best forwards early but quickly hurt his hand and struggled for the rest of the season as a result of constant hand/finger injuries.

Karlsson played out of his mind on one foot during the playoff run. The Karlsson we got to start out this season was recovering from that same injury, but wasn't nearly as good. Karlsson had the worst half season he has had since 13-14 when he was coming off of the Cookie injury. Karlsson returned to form to close out the season, but by then we were well out of it.

White and Chabot were supposed to play major roles on our NHL team in order to help mitigate the loss of those mentioned above but Guy Boucher instead chose to play Johnny Oduya and other veterans in major roles. This is despite early in the 16-17 season while White was still in college, Dorion bragged that he was an NHL ready player. Closing out the same season, Dorion attempted to recall Thomas Chabot on an emergency basis to play some of the most important games of the year despite having AHL veterans/fringe NHL talent available to him on defense. While the recall failed as we did not meet the emergency requirements, what does that say about Chabot's possible NHL readiness as seen by this organization?

While Pierre Dorion has positively remarked about time in the AHL having been beneficial for Chabot and White, it leaves me wondering how much he is covering for Boucher considering his past actions and statements related to both of those players playing in the NHL. That, and his recent admission that whoever is the coach of the Senators next year will have to be willing to play the young players.

In turn, the Senators 17-18 team was completely different than the one that went on the run last season. If we still had peak Karlsson, Anderson, and Ryan, along with Methot and MacArthur, there's no doubt in my mind the Senators would have been a playoff team this season.

 

[Binister]

"Hockey is a momentum game"

- Juhani Tamminen

 

[Chet Manley]

I hadn't really watched Ottawa play until the post season last year. Took them on as the eastern team to follow. EK was in god mode and Methot complimented him very well in the d zone.

But what most impressed was the play of the entire forward group. Everyone always seemed to be in the right place at the right time, totally dedicated to a plan and executing it with excellence as a group. Reminded me of how well Canada's forwards played without the puck in Sochi . Even saw them doing similar at the start of this season the few times I watched.

For those saying it was luck, the Sens had to play the other teams to at least close to their level to allow any luck to be a factor. I didn't see them outclassed by any of their 3 opponents.

 

[solidprospect]

Bribes, mostly.

 

[Kamina]

In turn, the Senators 17-18 team was completely different than the one that went on the run last season. If we still had peak Karlsson, Anderson, and Ryan, along with Methot and MacArthur, there's no doubt in my mind the Senators would have been a playoff team this season.

Keeping Turris (or making the trade for Duchene before the season started) would have prevented the complete demoralization of the team, allowing for a much more gradual transition.

Keeping Methot would have prevented our young D (Ceci, Claesson, Harpur) from being overplayed and exposed.

Keeping one or both of Stalberg and Wingels would have been really nice to keep our bottom 6 depth instead of the crapshoot that we got this season.

I don't know if the Sens would make the playoffs this year if these things happened, but they definitely wouldn't have been a bottom-dweller. The goaltending probably still would've sank us, but then again, a D-corps and a bottom six that isn't getting torched every night would help Andy and Condon a lot.

 

[Oilers Propagandist]

Why don’t more teams do this?

Yoooo.... your profile pic.. lmfao..

 

[Uncle Scrooge]

Cinderella runs happen from time to time.

I keep hearing this term used regarding the Sens last year and i don't think it was a cinderella run - that to me indicates they beat teams they shouldn't have but got hot at the right time.

Neither the Bruins or the Rangers were a better team than Ottawa. It was very realistic for them to beat them. Then you look at the Pens and how they played in the playoffs, getting outshot left and right. If im being honest how the Pens won the cup last year isn't a recipe that works most years, they were determined without Letang and relied on good goaltending/elite talent up front but their play at times was flat out survival out there. I remember even betting on Ottawa in the first game of that series and actually believing they will win.

Everything Ottawa did was deserved. They were a pretty good team. Just because they won 2 rounds in the playoffs doesn't make it a cinderella run. If they beat 2 +110 pts teams this year in Boston and Tampa Bay on their way to the ECF against a healthy Pittsburgh and lost in 7 games that's more of a cinderella run. Last year there was only a couple pts separating all of Boston, Ottawa and NYR. Heck, the Leafs of this season had more pts than any of them.

 

[Seanaconda]

Ek was unbelievable and Anderson didn't suck

 

[ReginKarlssonLehner]

An all-time level run by their star player.

I love others looking for excuses to downplay the Sens.

It was legit what you said and only it.

EK put on a run for the ages and this year his leg hasn't held up after all those surgery adjustments to his heel.

 

[Goodbahd]

Right moment, right time. Overachievers.

 

[rent free]

well if we're talking about the senators luck that series:

gotta be good to be lucky, lucky to be good

 

[CuriousGeorge]

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?

They won enough games to make the playoffs.

 

[North Cole]

All the people saying they were lucky to get past the NYR make me laugh. The NYR have been putting off a rebuild for years because lundqvist perennially drags that garbage roster into the playoffs. I had Boston beating Ottawa, but Ottawa pulled it out. Teams find ways to win. Pittsburgh is the same way; I see them get down like 2/3 goals and then they just find ways to tie it up. Timely goalscoring and timely saves can go a long way. Playing the trap helped too.

But let's not act like the rangers got robbed. They've been fools gold for a while now.

 

[SPLBRUIN]

A healthy Bruins team most likely wins that series last year. Even with all of our injuries it took the Sens a bunch of OT games to win the series. Still angered by the OT penalty on Nash that cost them a game, Sens caught all of the breaks in that series.

 

[sennysensen]

1. Great goaltending last year, bad goaltending this year

2. Karlsson played like a top 5 NHL player last year, this year struggled in 1st half, better 2nd half but not at last year's level

3. Boucher inability to adapt. Drives me nuts that he's so married to his passive system, can't see the the top teams win by forechecking, aggression, and speed. Nothing wrong with the Boucher system in the 3rd protecting a lead, but a team's gotta be able to play more than 1 way

4. Good top 4 d last year, awful this year. Methot replaced by ??? Oduya terrible, Claesson regressed, Phaneuf lost a step, Ceci in over his head, Karlsson not as good, Harper awful, Boro being Boro. Only bright spot on d was Chabot's development and Wolanin.

5. Zack Smith and Hoffman horrible work ethic this year. So lazy, with no consequences.

6. Bobby Ryan played inspired hockey last year's playoffs, learned how to spell intense. This year: enttence

The Sens have been a yo-yo alternating good and bad years for a decade. They'll probably bounce back, make the playoffs next year, then suck the year after. This of course depends on Karlsson and Dahlin on the team or not.

 

[NyQuil]

A healthy Bruins team most likely wins that series last year. Even with all of our injuries it took the Sens a bunch of OT games to win the series. Still angered by the OT penalty on Nash that cost them a game, Sens caught all of the breaks in that series.

Meh, hypotheticals.

A healthy Karlsson might have played a lot better too.

Sometimes you have to kill a penalty.

 

[JD1]

A healthy Bruins team most likely wins that series last year. Even with all of our injuries it took the Sens a bunch of OT games to win the series. Still angered by the OT penalty on Nash that cost them a game, Sens caught all of the breaks in that series.

a healthy Bruins team went 0 for 4 last year in the regular season last year. against Ottawa. Was that also because of Ottawa catching all the breaks?

 

[De Montreal]

They were the 2nd best team in the playoff that year in their conference

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

Beat Boston
Beat NYR
Won 3 games vs the Pens
pretty simple