Wayne Scanlan plays Cassandra :
Beware, Sens Army !
Three games to avoid infamy
Wayne Scanlan
The Ottawa Citizen
Tuesday, April 01, 2008
The shock is not that a bunch of teams are scrambling for a playoff berth in the final days of the NHL schedule.
That's just hockey business as usual.
The shock is to find, on April 1, the mighty Ottawa Senators among those teams.
Securing an 11th-hour playoff spot? That was always the patter from below, the noise of mice and their scurrying little feet trying to make a meal out of year-end table scraps.
Hockey's aristocracy -- and the Senators have been among them for the past four seasons -- were more concerned with the loftier business of resting their stars and aligning their talent for playoff detail.
Fine tuning a big machine for the bigger days head.
Let the middle class of the league fight to the death in the dying days of an 82-game schedule.
Well, welcome to the middle class, Ottawa. See how the other half lives.
It comes down to this for the Senators -- finish strong in the final three games, beginning with tonight's vital game against the physically battered Montreal Canadiens at Scotiabank Place -- or risk being associated with one of the biggest collapses in NHL history.
"It's not anything we're thinking about," says defenceman Chris Phillips, of the possibility of Ottawa missing the playoffs for the first time since 1996.
They would be thinking about it if it were to happen -- because no one would let them forget it.
The Senators would go down with baseball's 1964 Philadelphia Phillies and other infamous meltdowns late in the season.
For the first three months of the season, the Senators were the best team in the East, if not the best in the entire NHL.
When the Senators defeated the Detroit Red Wings in a January game, there were those who claimed the Senators were the class of the league.
By then, their mortality was already showing. Defensive mistakes were leading to big goals. The goaltending was an issue, whether Martin Gerber or Ray Emery was in net.
(They were both tardy -- Emery getting to practice; Gerber getting back into position after a save).
The captain, Daniel Alfredsson, got hurt, and he continues to play hurt. As the losses piled up, the team's confidence slipped away.
Ancient history, says Senators general manager and head coach Bryan Murray, using every ounce of his guile and experience to hold this thing together, to hold his own cool while the media pile on.
"This week," Murray says, "is all I can concern myself with."
It's concern enough for the entire team. For all of the so-called Sens Army that supports them in the stands and on the street.
It comes down to this: three games, all against divisional rivals (Montreal, Toronto, Boston). If Ottawa can win two of three, it has nothing to worry about until the first round of the playoffs begins. But if the Senators lose two of three games in regulation, they may have to worry about Washington or Carolina squeezing them out.
As Murray reminds us, this microscopic examination of a frightening scenario is hardly Ottawa's alone. Other teams currently just below, and even just above, Ottawa in the standings are also living dangerously.
Those teams, though, didn't start out with a 15-2 record to start the season. Those teams weren't 25-8-4 two days after Christmas.
Still, it's too early to fully dwell on how far the Senators have fallen because there remain three games to break the fall. Three games to get it right after so much went wrong.
After 79 games, the defending Stanley Cup finalists have given up an astounding 240 goals against -- more than any team in the East except Atlanta, Tampa Bay and Toronto. Not exactly the kind of company a team wants to keep.
The Senators haven't given up this many goals in a season since the post-expansion season of 1995-96, when a four-year-old Ottawa franchise surrendered 291 goals while finishing last overall in the NHL with 18 victories and 59 defeats.
"We're trying to stay positive," Phillips says.
Thanks for the reminder. Let's not dwell on how miserably things have gone when there are three precious games left to create a do-over in the postseason.
There is hope, and it comes draped in bleu, blanc et rouge.
The Canadiens, still trying to nail down first place in the Northeast Division, have had a hard time with the Senators this season. Already losers of five of the seven meetings, Montreal has been ravaged with injuries lately.
Captain Saku Koivu and top defenceman Michael Komisarek are out. So is defenceman Francis Bouillon.
Everything is there for the Senators to take a giant step toward a playoff spot, with a single win against a rival it owns on home ice.
"There's no sense getting in the playoffs if you can't win some games to get in the playoffs," Murray says.
"So, let's do it."
Last season at this time, the Senators had a "magic" about their play, says the coach.
Minus the magic, the Senators hope some old fashioned hard work might be the answer.
It's how the working classes deal with their problems.
Subscribers can read previous columns by Wayne Scanlan at ottawacitizen.com . He can be reached at wscanlan@thecitizen.canwest.com.
© The Ottawa Citizen 2008
Montreal Delenda Est !
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