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Senators eliminate Bruins on MacArthur's OT clincher

April 24, 2017, 9:45 AM ET [89 Comments]
Jared Crozier
Ottawa Senators Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
As the saying goes, you can do things the easy way, or the hard way.

Apparently nobody told the Ottawa Senators about the first option.

Gifted with three straight Bruin "puck over glass" delay of game penalties in the first 15 minutes, Ottawa's power play looked like a tire fire them not even getting a shot with the man advantage, combined with Boston capitalizing on their first power play shortly after and things didn't look good.

I try to stay away from social media (especially Twitter) during games, because of the overreactions that take place and the massive mood swings that accompany die-hard people who live and die with each shot. But I got sucked in during that first period and the reaction was about what you would expect...from "see you in game 7" to "this series is over" to "at least we don't have to see them get obliterated in the second round".

But the truth is, at 5 on 5 Ottawa was the better team in the first, and those power plays were pretty much par for the course for the Senators. As were the next two they received, both of which they made count and they finished the first round with a power play north of 20%.

Ottawa capitalized on their chances in the second period, and it was the same group that had led them in the first five games that got them on the board. Bobby Ryan deflected home his fourth of the series, assisted by Derick Brassard and Erik Karlsson. Kyle Turris made an appearance and got his first of the playoffs on a nice shot that went off the post and in, and the Senators led once again.

Despite the assertion from Marc Methot during a second intermission interview that they would play on their toes and not sit back with the lead, the Bruins didn't oblige and once again they took the play to Ottawa, outshooting them 12-3 in the third frame, and scoring the only goal of the period to tie it up when Patrice Bergeron out-muscled Cody Ceci to knock home a loose puck.

Overtime saw Ottawa get the only shots, and Clarke MacArthur drew a penalty by driving to the net, and Ottawa made the most of it, with the usual suspects setting up MacArthur for the series winner off a broken play where Ryan's attempted pass across the crease went off Rask's pad out front and MacArthur whacked it home.

Six games, all decided by one goal, with four of them going to overtime. It was quite the series and give both teams full marks for battling until the end. No lead was safe, hence the number of sudden death game required, and neither team gave up.

Also, although competitive and a hard-fought battle right until the end, there wasn't many of the blatant, dirty, cheap plays that a lot of the other first round series' had.

It was a standout series for Ryan and Brassard, two of the more maligned Senators heading into the playoffs. Brassard was brought in for his playoff prowess and people were doubting that after a very mediocre season, but he brought his game as advertised. He led the team with 8 points, and is now 4th in playoff points per game in the last 5 years, behind only Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Patrick Kane (min 50 GP).

Erik Karlsson (for some reason) revealed that he has been playing with a hairline fracture in his heel, which makes his performance in the series even more spectacular.

So now the attention turns to the Rangers, who provide the opponent for the Senators in the second round. The series begins on Thursday night and I will have a preview in the next couple of days, but it looks like the Senators match up fairly well and it should be another tight series.
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