Senators Reenergize Fanbase With Long-Awaited Playoff Run

The Ottawa Senators entered their series against the Toronto Maple Leafs essentially playing with house money. After all, they finally made it back to the Stanley Cup Playoffs after an eight-year absence, so this season was already a success.

However, the pain of losing is still very much present.

The Senators' season came to an end with a 4-2 home loss to the Maple Leafs in Game 6 on Thursday night. They made a strong comeback effort after going down 3-0 in the series, winning two-straight games and tying Game 6 late in the third period, but it simply wasn't meant to be. As was the case in the previous four playoff meetings back in the early 2000s, Ottawa fell short against Toronto.

As mentioned, it's hard to come back from being down 3-0 in a series. The Senators lost both Game 2 and Game 3 in overtime, which all but sealed their fate. There was some slight hope due to the Leafs' history of struggling in clinching games, and the Senators definitely made them sweat, but again, it was just too large of a deficit to overcome.

Ottawa's top skaters definitely showed up in this series. Captain Brady Tkachuk had a great showing with seven points (four goals, three assists), and Tim Stutzle and Claude Giroux both had five points. Defenseman Jake Sanderson only had three points, but he was all over the ice and always a threat on the power play.

Unfortunately, they didn't get the support they needed in net. Linus Ullmark struggled throughout the series with a .880 save percentage and a 2.84 goals against average, down from his .909 save percentage and 2.72 goals against average in the regular season. He had a save percentage under .870 in four of six games, the only exceptions being Game 4 (31 saves on 34 shots) and his Game 5 shutout (29 saves on 29 shots).

By extension, the Senators' penalty kill also struggled throughout the series as the Leafs scored on six of their 17 power play opportunities. However, the Senators did score two shorthanded goals, so that deserves some credit.

All that said, the Senators brought a much-needed jolt to their fanbase with this run, and established themselves that they are indeed a team to look out for in the stacked Atlantic Division.