Unfortunately, for the second day in a row I open up with thoughts regarding a tragedy that has struck the hockey world. Jonathan Pitre's passing on Wednesday night was incredibly sad, it is something that everyone knew could happen at any time and hopefully he is at peace now and his pain is over.

What happened on a Saskatchewan highway last evening is shocking, dismaying and really puts everything into perspective. Fourteen hockey people taken from us in one fell swoop when the team bus crashed with a tractor trailer, and many more injured seriously. That is truly tragic and I want to add my thoughts and sympathies to the chorus around the hockey world and beyond that have already done so in support of the Humboldt Broncos and the entire Humboldt community as well as the entire SJHL.

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Once again, the games must go on with heavy hearts and the Ottawa Senators will wrap up their season in Boston with a game against the Bruins.

Ottawa laid a goose egg in Pittsburgh Friday night, as they were shut out 4-0 by the Penguins. Craig Anderson had one of his worst-looking outings in what has been a terrible season, in what is his last game of the year, one that encapsulates what has been the worst season of his career stats-wise. Anderson allowed two goals from behind the goal line, looking like a fish out of water in overplaying shots on both occasions and having to scramble back unsuccessfully. Then he was almost knocked over by a point shot from Jamie Oleksiak that resulted in the third goal from Phil Kessel.

The Senators fired 35 shots on Casey deSmith, who turned them all away for his first career shutout, but didn't force him to make a lot of really difficult "how did he do that" saves.


So now they turn to face the Bruins, who still have a slight chance at winning the Atlantic Division and securing home ice through the Eastern Conference. Their fate is not in their own hands however, as a Tampa win in regulation or overtime would clinch for the Lightning as they would have more ROW, the first tiebreaker, even if Boston wins both of their remaining games. The Lightning will face Carolina at the same time as the Bruins are facing off against the Senators.

Ottawa will likely be without Ben Harpur, who fell into the boards awkwardly following a shove from Carl Hagelin and appeared to injure his shoulder. Ottawa has recalled Andreas Englund to take his spot.

Danny Taylor will get the star tin goal for Ottawa, his first NHL appearance since March 3, 2013 with the Flames, which remains his only career NHL victory. I would still rather see Philip Gustavsson get a game over the 31 year old veteran, but looking at his hockeydb page, you have to admire Taylor's dedication, persistence and love of the game to play for as many clubs in as many leagues as he has in his 12 pro seasons. I count 18 different teams in 7 different leagues, but I might be off by one because I ran out of fingers. That is chasing the dream and I hope he does well. Hey, the bar has been set pretty low for him.

Ottawa was shut out for a 10th time this season, to move into sole possession of 2nd place in that dubious honor, but they won't be able to catch the Habs' league leading 12 blanks.

This is the final game day in what has been a less than stellar season, no matter how you look at it, with not much to be positive about.

Then we can go through the analysis and break down what went wrong, why, where the blame lies, and how it can be fixed as we head into what could prove to be one of the most franchise-defining off-seasons in the club's history.

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