If the Ottawa Senators' season was a cartoon, last night the franchise would be hanging on the edge of a cliff with one hand and a caterpillar named Mrazek crawling over their knuckles one by one tickling them so that they have to let go. Then just as the last finger was about to let go, the Senators were rescued by a guy in a cape named MacArthur.
So many analogies, so little time.
MacArthur's goal with just a shade over 4 minutes left to tie a game that they had dominated from start to finish. They just hadn't been able to solve the Czech native and former Ottawa 67's netminder who has a history of brilliant performances, just ask Team USA from the World Juniors a few years back in Alberta. Ottawa's one major gaffe earlier in the game resulted in Gustav Nyquist's long shot beating Andrew Hammond to give the Wings a lead that looked as though it might hold, and I admit, I had started crafting this in my mind as an obituary post.
It looked like the plug was about to be pulled on the Senators' life support system, with the Bruins and Capitals already having posted wins on the evening and the Sens heading into this one with barely a playoff pulse after 3 straight losses, 2 of the ugly variety. MacArthur's shot through traffic and through Mrazek was like a jolt from a defibrillator, and Mark Stone's winner in the shootout at least allowed them to stay alive and keep the pressure on the couple of teams they are chasing.
The frustrating part about the recent slide is that if they had played even remotely as well in those games as they did against the Wings, they would have won at least 2 of the 3 games. Also, if it was the Hammond factor, then shame on the team for not putting forth the same effort for Craig Anderson. Hammond wasn't overly tested in this one because of the dominance of the Senators, but improved his record to 15-1-1.
So while a loss in this one probably would have snuffed out any playoff hope, the win kept the flicker alive and trailing the Bruins by 3 points with a game in hand keeps the pressure on Boston.
Thursday's game against Tampa will be just as important as last night's game for the Senators, where they need a win to keep pace, and with a little help from Montreal (against Washington) and Detroit (vs Boston) they could tighten things up heading into Saturday's showdown with the Caps.
Well, on January 1st, if you would have asked any Senators fan if they thought the team would be playing meaningful hockey this April, the answer would have been a resounding "No", unless the McDavid sweepstakes counted as "meaningful".
Well, on this April Fool's Day, the Senators have kept close enough to ensure that at least 1 game, and hopefully more, will mean something as the sun sets on a pretty remarkable season in a lot of ways.
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Very glad to hear Drew Miller escaped any serious injury to his eye after being cut by Mark Stone's skate for a really nasty gash in the game's opening minute. Pictures after the game showed just how close it was and how lucky he is. Really ugly cut that took a lot of stitches to close up.