By Ken Hawkins (a.k.a. khawk)
The Ottawa Senators may not have won their game on Tuesday night vs. the Columbus Blue Jackets, but they finally achieved a goal that many didn’t believe they were capable of this season - making the NHL playoffs. Regardless of the stated objectives for the Senators’ 2024/25 season, the primary aim for this group was to finally transition from a collection of promising young talent to a legitimate playoff-quality team. The Senators have made a lot of changes since the disappointing end of their 2023/24 season, but for this year to be a success it wouldn’t have been enough to just improve by a few points or play “meaningful games” down the stretch. They needed to end what had become one of the longest playoff droughts in the NHL, and give their fans something to really cheer about. They can finally now say that it’s mission accomplished.
As for the actual game vs. Columbus, well it certainly wasn’t their best. However, it comes on the heels of a critical 3-game winning streak vs. TBL, FLA, and CBJ, where they came in riding a 2-game losing streak vs. a pair of non-playoff teams and having just received the news that captain Brady Tkachuk wouldn’t be playing. But instead of letting that translate into a crippling 4 or 5 game losing streak in April, the team came together to win all 3 games by a combined 9-1 score. It’s become something of a hallmark of their season to defy the odds just when things started to seem bleak. They lost 7/9 games in Nov and had streaks of losing 6/7 games in both Jan/Feb, but in each case responded with a 5/6 game winning streak shortly afterwards. In fact, minus the losses in just those 3 losing streaks, the team has a 42-15-2 record which is the equivalent of a 122 point pace.
CBJ 5 - OTT 2 (NHL Highlights)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlugUozufzw/
The Good - Despite the loss, there’s been a recent trend of players getting past their scoring slumps, and it was good to see Fabian Zetterlund finally get his first goal since the trade deadline. This comes on the heels of the Senators getting goals from the likes of Highmore, Matinpalo, and Gaudette in recent games, which is a very positive sign heading into the postseason. Zetterlund has taken a while to get going, but he’s certainly had some quality chances, and now has 3Pts in his last 8GP. It would be a major boost to the roster if he continues to find chemistry, and help provide the kind of secondary scoring this team so badly needs.
The Bad - It wasn’t the best effort from this group, but the Blue Jackets really found ways to prey on the Senators’ 3rd pairing and back-up goaltender. Anton Forsberg delivered a gem vs. the Florida Panthers on the weekend, but he’s never been known for consistency and it was a regression to the average on this night. Also despite playing just 13min of ice time, the Kleven-Matinpalo pairing were a -3 each in a game where CBJ only scored 4 ES goals. They looked particularly vulnerable when CBJ made them turn and chase pucks, so there are a few things to work on there before a playoff opponent watches enough tape to formulate a plan to really capitalize on those limitations.
The Ugly - Nothing ugly on a night where you clinch a playoff spot, even though it would have been nice to have accomplished that with a win instead of a series of losses by other teams. Hopefully the extra rest will have Brady Tkachuk ready to engage at playoff-level intensity.
It now becomes a question of what position the Senators will ultimately have in the playoffs, and who their first round opponent will be. While they’re currently in the first Wild Card position, MTL is now just 3Pts back of OTT thanks to a recent surge, and the two have a head-to-head match-up coming on Friday night. It also looks like TOR-TBL will be jockeying for 1st place in the Atlantic Division, and have a head-to-head showdown of their own coming up. So there are a lot of possible combinations there, and the last 4 games will play a big role in deciding who plays who. That said, it’s also a key opportunity for much-needed rest for certain players, so it will be interesting to see how the team approaches the final week of the season.
What did you think about the Senators making the playoffs for the first time since their Conference Final appearance in 2016/17? Is there a playoff match-up that you’d most like to see the Senators have? Feel free to leave your comments below, and as always thanks for reading!
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