PITTSBURGH – The clock may simply have struck midnight.
There is absolutely no shame in that if this is where the Cinderella run ends for the Ottawa Senators, but it would be foolish to count them out of the Eastern Conference Final entirely – even after seeing Craig Anderson pulled twice on Sunday afternoon while the Pittsburgh Penguins converted the touchdown in a 7-0 victory.
“It was lots of turnovers,” offered Senators centre Kyle Turris, when asked to explain the drubbing. “It just was uncharacteristic of us in a game like this. We can’t do that. We can’t do that in the playoffs, let alone the third round of the playoffs in a very important Game 5.
“We won’t be doing that next game.”
There is a danger in using the game you’ve just watched as a barometer for what’s to come in a playoff series. Often, each is its own snowflake. Remember when Anaheim lost 7-1 in Edmonton last round immediately before delivering a 2-1 victory in Game 7?
This is the kind of message Guy Boucher will hammer home at every turn before the puck drops again at Canadian Tire Centre on Tuesday night.
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The Senators head coach holds a Masters degree in sports psychology and spends as much time working on the minds as the power play. He’s coaxed an awful lot of his team this season and is taking an interesting approach with a must-win game to play.
“We know they’re a better team,” Boucher said of the Penguins. “Everybody knows that on the planet. They’re the Stanley Cup champions. They’re the best team in the league. That’s no secret.
“We know to beat that team, we need to be at our very, very best. And we were not.”
The one-sided nature of this loss came with some silver linings. Anderson sat out the final two periods – he was pulled at 16:04 of the first, re-entered at 17:32 and promptly allowed a goal before going out for good at the intermission.
Erik Karlsson was kept in the dressing room for the final 25:55 after getting tangled up with Pittsburgh’s Scott Wilson and centre Derick Brassard and defenceman Cody Ceci were held out of the third period entirely.
That tactic paid dividends last round, when Karlsson was sat down early during a blowout loss to the New York Rangers in Game 4 and delivered two strong performances to close out the series. He’s played the entire playoffs on two hairline fractures in his left heel and plans to use the rare extra rest as a weapon.
“It’s the same as against the Rangers,” said Karlsson. “Same mentality. Same thing.”
The one thing that gives you pause, if you’re handicapping this thing, is the level the Penguins have reached in winning two straight games. Evgeni Malkin had three assists to boost his league-leading point total to 23 while Sidney Crosby created a couple highlights with a gorgeous tip-in goal and a behind-the-back pass to Phil Kessel.
The stars have come to play.
The banged-up Penguins are also getting back some reinforcements – Bryan Rust was a spark-plug after returning from a concussion in Game 5 – and knows exactly what it takes to finish off an opponent. They now have a chance to win a seventh straight playoff series.
After being outshot repeatedly in the early rounds, Pittsburgh has been taking back the possession game against Ottawa. On Sunday, they controlled the puck for almost 90 seconds in the offensive zone before Rust scored to make it 3-0.
“We were taking on some water,” said Senators winger Bobby Ryan. “That was one of those ones where you try to collapse and really throughout that shift, they didn’t have many shots but they were all over the puck cycling. That wears you out.
“We had a chance to get it out, it goes right under my feet. Before you can even turn around, it was in the back of your net. I don’t think it was the defining goal … 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. They all were.”
Ryan wasn’t planning on reviewing any tape of the game. Out of sight, out of mind.
On Monday, Boucher intends to accentuate the positives from this playoff run rather than harp on the negatives from the worst shutout loss in Senators playoff history.
“I think we all need to move on from this game pretty quick,” said Karlsson. “Sometimes it’s wrong to say, but I’d rather lose like this than in overtime.”
Yes, there weren’t many (any?) positives to lean on as they packed up quickly and flew home.
Except one: The Senators have repeatedly defied expectations this spring and have at least one more chance to extend their season.
“It’s not about what it means, it’s where the players are,” said Boucher. “Some days they have it – just like a plumber wakes up one day, is having a great day – the other day he’s not having a good day. Just one of those bad days.”
They can’t afford one more.
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