Ottawa Senators Playoff Chances

Bryan Murray, the head coach and GM of the Ottawa Senators, accused the Pittsburgh Penguins of rolling over in their season finale against Philadelphia just so they’d get to play Ottawa instead of the Flyers in the first round.

On its face, it just seemed like Murray was engaging in a little “woe is me” moaning about his team’s sorry lot. On second thought, though, he might have hit the nail directly on the head.

The Penguins might well have simply gone through the motions against Philly because, let’s face it, who wouldn’t want to play the Sens in the opening round?

This is definitely not the same Senators team that came within 3 wins of grabbing last year’s Stanley Cup. Heck, it’s barely even the same team that started this season hotter than a steamed ex-wife. Ottawa rebounded from their finals loss to Anaheim by bursting out of the gate winning 13 of their first 14 games.

Season Turned the Wrong Way

Unfortunately, since then the Boys from Bytown have done a 180 on their season. Over the final 40 games, they went a miserable 14-21-5 and failed to score at least 2 goals in 14 of those defeats. On top of that, they backed into the playoffs, winning only 3 of their last 10 games.

So the Sens are looking pretty lame as the second season opens. In some key areas, they actually are lame. Captain Daniel Alfredsson will miss the Pittsburgh series after getting his bell severely rung late in the regular season. Add 2-way forwards Mike Fisher and Chris Kelly to the rehab list and things start to look thin.

Naturally, the biggest loss is Alfredsson. He, Jason Spezza and Dany Heatley combined for 115 goals this year. The rest of the Sens could only muster 143. So without Alfy, the heat will be squarely on Spezza and Heatley, and neither has shone particularly brightly without the Captain helping them out.

Despite all that, the Senators might still scare a few people if it wasn’t for one singular shortcoming – goaltending.

Biggest Hole Is Between the Pipes

Last season, Ottawa rode Ray Emery to the finals. This year, they’d like to run him out of town on a rail. His questionable attitude has been blamed for a lot of Ottawa’s woes. The team’s lost confidence in him.

Unfortunately, that leaves the heavy lifting to Martin Gerber. And while Gerber has played on 3 different teams that made it to the finals (Anaheim, Carolina and Ottawa), he’s only ever made 2 starts. In fact, come playoff time Gerber looks best wearing a ballcap and sitting on the end of the bench.

Instead, he’ll be between the pipes leaving the Sens and their fans to wonder which shot he’ll inevitably and heartbreakingly whiff on.

Can the Senators overcome all these obstacles? Only if their collective psyche proves to be made of tougher stuff than all the evidence suggests. When the going gets tough for Ottawa this year, expect the Sens to get going – straight to the golf course.

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