Senators, losing grip on wild-card shot, return home to franchise sale winding down

In different circumstances, this would have been an excellent outcome in a back-to-back scenario against two good hockey teams.

The Ottawa Senators stole a 2-1 game in Pittsburgh Monday, on the heroics of callup goaltender Dylan Ferguson, and then played their hearts out in a 2-1 loss to the first-place Bruins in Boston Tuesday.

Unfortunately for the Senators, splits aren’t productive in helping their tenuous place in the wild-card standings. Ottawa would like to at least keep it interesting until the end of the regular season, and with each loss they inch closer to the point where they have to run the table to contend.

With just 11 games remaining, the Senators sit six points behind Florida for the second wild-card spot and nine behind the New York Islanders in the first wild-card position. Although Ottawa gained two points on the Penguins with their head-to-head win, Pittsburgh is still five ahead of the Sens.

As well as the Senators played at home against Colorado on Thursday and Toronto on Saturday, they gained only a single point, in the shootout loss to the Leafs. Full credit for effort, but the bottom line is that the Senators have six losses in their past seven games.

And so it comes back to learning experience and effort in the big games. There have been plenty of both in these recent outings.

“For a back-to-back, we can’t play any harder,” said Senators head coach D.J. Smith, after the loss in Boston. Ottawa outshot the Bruins, 41-33. “Give (the Bruins) credit. They’re good.”

Heartening for the Sens was the return to form of Mads Sogaard, who made 31 saves, including several spectacular stops to keep his team in the game. Sogaard, 22, has been under siege, giving up five goals in each of his past two starts.

“The kid made all the saves he had to make,” Smith said. “Good for him to bounce back like that.”

At the other end, a goalpost shot by Ridly Greig could have been the one to send this game to overtime. Ditto for a late power-play chance by the Senators that failed to produce a goal.

Dylan Gambrell gave the visitors a 1-0 lead on a crafty wraparound effort in the first period. Jake DeBrusk and David Krejci replied for Boston.

“Those ones are tough because we were so close,” Sogaard said. “And you’re competing against probably the best team in the league. You want to get to OT, get the point and see what happens.”

Sogaard was pleased with his own performance and grateful to get the start. Interestingly, after his brilliant game in Pittsburgh, Ferguson was ill on Tuesday and not available to start or back up Sogaard. Kevin Mandolese was called up from AHL Belleville.

“I was thankful to get the chance to play and to do something about it,” Sogaard said.

Captain Brady Tkachuk said he thought Sogaard looked “calm and patient,” and lamented that his team couldn’t get another goal to force overtime.

It wasn’t just Sogaard who bounced back from his previous start, against Toronto. As a group, the Senators looked a lot sharper than they did in Pittsburgh, where they were badly outshot and had precious little offensive zone time.

“We broke the puck out so much better,” Smith said, of the tighter play against the Bruins. “We checked, we worked in groups of five. I thought everyone contributed, from all the lines to all the D.”

The big question ahead of Thursday’s game back home against the Tampa Bay Lightning: who starts in goal?

Sogaard has earned the opportunity, but the same could be said of Ferguson, after his startling 48-save performance in Pittsburgh in his first career NHL start. The 24-year-old has put the journey into journeyman, having played for the Maple Leafs and Senators organizations this season alone, with assignments in the AHL and ECHL.

After Thursday, the Senators visit the New Jersey Devils on Saturday before returning home to face the Panthers in what Ottawa hopes is a meaningful game.

“There’s big games all the way to the very end,” Tkachuk said, optimistically. “We’ll regroup (for Thursday) and get back into it.”

Franchise sale heats up

Few home buyers would agree to a purchase without seeing the property. And with that in mind, the NHL and several potential new owners of the Ottawa Senators are expected to visit the nation’s capital next week to check out the Senators operation.

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and deputy commissioner Bill Daly have made plans to be at Monday’s game against Florida and Postmedia has reported that as many as five potential bidders could be in town next week for a closer look at the business. Round 1 of the bid process has produced as many as nine pitches, according to Sportico.com.

Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported this week that he believes that Los Angeles-based Neko Sparks and his large consortium are the lone bid to be in excess of $900 million to purchase the Senators and earn the right to build a new arena near downtown Ottawa. The Athletic had an interesting piece on Sparks in January, outlining his goal of becoming the first black owner of an NHL franchise.

It sets up for a dramatic finish, not unlike a push for a playoff spot.

“As we get to Phase 2 (of the bidding), it's a matter of weeks," Bettman told reporters at the NHL GM meetings last week. “You begin the process of winnowing down the number of interested parties, and while you're reducing the number of parties, you're hopefully increasing the magnitude of their interest – for those that are remaining.”

Magnitude being a nice way of saying – the money.

Bettman and the bidders are expected to meet with Senators officials, but also take a closer look at what steps would be involved with building an arena on National Capital Commission property at LeBreton Flats.