“X” Marks The Spot For The Ottawa Senators

No team is usually happy after a 5-2 loss, but that wasn’t the case for the Ottawa Senators Tuesday night in Columbus. The Senators clinched a Stanley Cup Playoff berth for the first time since their seven-game double overtime loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 2017 Eastern Conference Final.

The Senators received a little help from their arch-rival, the Montreal Canadiens, who defeated the Red Wings 4-1 to knock Detroit out of contention for chasing down the Senators.

The Senators reach the playoffs for the 17th occasion in franchise history.

The Ottawa Senators goal this season was to make the playoffs from the outset of the offseason. In fact, the drive for the postseason started minutes prior to Game Seven of the 2023-24 Stanley Cup Final, when Senators General Manager Steve Staios acquired Vezina Trophy-winning goalie Linus Ullmark from the Boston Bruins.

The Senators GM added Mike Amadio and David Perron, players with Stanley Cup pedigree, via free agency while trading for a veteran right-shot defenseman in Nick Jensen.

There were other bright spots along the way including an improved Tim Stützle, captain Brady Tkachuk growing as a leader, d-man Thomas Chabot reclaiming his game, Drake Batherson‘s game evolving, having Shane Pinto in the lineup for a full season, a third d-pair of Tyler Kleven and 26-year-old rookie Nik Matinpalo, Adam Gaudette‘s surprising 17 goals, a trade deadline swap netting the team, Dylan Cozens, plus rookie netminder Leevi Merilainen‘s invaluable contribution which included three shutouts.

Early this season, it didn’t look as if the Senators would be in the mix for a playoff berth. The club opened the campaign 5-4-0, then repeated a November swoon of past years, going 5-8-1. However, with a daunting three weeks on the road during December and early January due to the World Junior takeover of the Canadian Tire Centre, the Senators posted a 9-3-1 record.

Even after the team was touch-and-go to make the playoffs in February, winning only two of seven games, the Senators have reeled off a 14-4-2 mark since March 1, the league’s second-best club since that date.

It’s been a long time coming for the Ottawa Senators most tenured player in terms of time with the organization. Selected 18th overall in the 2015 Entry Draft, playing his first full NHL season in 2017-18, Thomas Chabot was finally rewarded for his long wait.

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Chabot couldn’t hide his emotions after 509 games with the team without a sniff of postseason action.

“You’re not going to see me smile a whole lot after a loss but man, it feels great. It definitely does,” said an elated Chabot.

“It’s the whole group, everybody from top to bottom. I think everybody just took a huge step this year. Everybody did whatever they could every single night to get into the playoffs. And obviously, now that it’s confirmed, obviously we still got some games to play, but I think the entire group is just friggin’ fired up. We’re just excited to get in. We can’t wait to go at it.”

Drake Batherson is another player who has been in the Senators’ organization for seven years and has not watched the playoffs unless they’re on TV.

“Yeah, that’s a long time coming. I mean, my last playoff game was in junior over seven years ago, so it’s an exciting feeling. Obviously, we want to finish the season strong, playing good hockey going into it, but like I said, we’re all super-pumped,” Batherson said postgame Tuesday.

For Head Coach Travis Green, it was a validation of sorts for Staios and the organization that they hired the right person and staff to lead the squad.

On making the playoffs, Green noted, “You wish it was coming off a win, but very excited for our team, our players, our fans, and proud of our players. You know, they deserve to be in the playoffs this year. It’s something that we talked about as a group, really, all summer, heading into training camp, and where we wanted to be at this time of year. And you know, it’s not easy to make the playoffs as Ottawa, you know, feels it’s been a while since they’ve been in, but every year, every team goes in wanting to make it.”

Deep down, even when his club was going through the rough early season patch, Green remained positive, “Yeah, I think so. Even in November, when we had a tough spell, I thought we were still playing pretty good hockey. And I thought we learned a lot in November, found our game, and really probably since the beginning of December, we’ve played some pretty good hockey.”

The Senators head coach thought there were lessons learned along the way.

“Yeah, I think understanding how we need to play as a group to win, and really what big components of what winning hockey is, there’s a lot of room to grow still with our group, which is very exciting and can’t wait to get to the playoffs, but we also need to finish off strong in our remaining games.”