It seems as though they might never get the help they need to make the playoffs, but the Ottawa Senators are going to go down swinging.
Patrick Wiercioch took his turn as the hero, scoring a nice goal in the dying moments of overtime to propel the Senators to a 2-1 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning, keeping the gap between themselves and the final Wild Card spot to 3 points. For a time it looked like the Senators would have a better fate, but Detroit couldn't hold a 2-0 lead and lost to Boston 3-2 on a goal that Petr Mrazek would not have even thought about having trouble with two nights earlier against Ottawa.
That has been the trend of the last week or so, with elite level (or at least playoff -bound) teams dropping the ball just when Ottawa needs a little help. But as Ottawa continues to win, there are a couple more teams that are now in the mix, as Detroit's loss has them just 3 points up on the Senators, and the injury-riddled and reeling Penguins are just 5 points up on Ottawa. That gap is probably insurmountable, but the Senators do play the Penguins on Tuesday, but IF Ottawa were to win both of their games on the weekend (Washington and Toronto) and Pittsburgh were to lose both of theirs (against red-hot Columbus and arch-rival Philadelphia) then that showdown could be for a playoff spot.
The Senators did what they had to do against the Lightning, and played a pretty complete game. Once again they had trouble capitalizing on their chances, but did just enough offensively and held the fort defensively against one of the league's highest scoring teams. Only a power play marker from Jonathan Drouin was able to beat Andrew Hammond, who is becoming less "flash in the pan" and more "diamond in the rough" with every game and every win.
While the Senators play as a team is pretty consistent, they could do a lot better if some of their bigger names stepped up a little more often, most notably Bobby Ryan and Clarke MacArthur. Both of the wingers were pretty invisible to my eyes for most of the night and the likes of Kyle Turris, Mark Stone and the Pageau line in its entirety were the ones doing the heavy lifting.
It was a scary moment at the end of the second period when Steven Stamkos went knee to knee with Pageau, forcing Pageau out of the game for about half of the third before he was able to return to the game. Pageau has stepped up like I wasn't sure he could and has been a force for the Senators, and an injury to him at this point would be tough to overcome.
Washington also won, in overtime against the Canadiens, so yet another reason to dislike the Habs (as if there weren't enough already for Sens fans), as it allowed Washington to maintain the 6 point gap between themselves and Ottawa. That means even if Ottawa beats Washington on Saturday night, 4 points with 4 games to play would still keep Washington out of Ottawa's range.
So the bottom line is, Ottawa needs to keep winning, and worry about the help when it arrives. They can't expect it Saturday night when the Bruins play the Maple Leafs, but since the help hasn't come when it could have been expected, maybe it will come when you least expect it. The Sens need to make sure they are in position to capitalize on that help if and when it arrives.
Washington looks home and cooled as mentioned, but in the next 4 days they will have a lot to say about who makes it, as they follow their game against Ottawa with Boston and then Detroit. There are lots of opportunities for help out there, and surely one of these times a result has to work in Ottawa's favor, right?
If the Senators don't end up making it, you still have to give them full credit for laying everything on the line and doing whatever it takes to claw their way to the end. If they go down, it will be kicking and screaming.