Welcome to Top-Shelf Takes, a weekly series from staff writer Mary Clarke all about the NHL. Lace up your skates as we dive deep into the epic highs and lows of this little sport called hockey.
No one saw this run coming from the Ottawa Senators.
On January 22, the Senators’ record stood at 20-23-3. The team was one day removed from the Winnipeg Jets absolutely wiping the floor with them in a 5-1 loss at home. The situation looked dire and with the powerhouses in the Atlantic Division locking down nearly all the playoff spots, it seemed as if the Senators were set to be out of luck.
Since then, however, the Senators have gone 12-4-1. This run over the last month and a half has revitalized their playoff hopes, with the Senators sitting three points out of a wild card spot with 19 games left to play. As the stragglers in the Eastern Conference — namely the Penguins and Islanders — struggle to keep their playoff positions, the Senators (and others) have slowly gained ground in recent weeks.
I’ve talked up the Buffalo Sabres playoff chances before, so it’s only fair that I give the Senators some love here too.
This most recent push by the Senators has been quite impressive. The impetus for it all stems from crucial back-to-back dominant wins against the Detroit Red Wings. Like the Senators, the Red Wings had been keeping pace with the playoff hopeful pack, with those two games against Ottawa a test for the team ahead of the trade deadline.
The Senators won those two games by a combined score of 12-3.
While Ottawa’s recent five-game win streak came to a screeching halt after a 5-0 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks on Monday, the Senators are the team to watch right now in the playoff race. A lot of that is thanks to great relief goaltending from Kevin Mandolese and Mads Sogaard after some unfortunate injuries to Ottawa’s netminders. Plus, the Senators offense has started to come alive in the last few weeks due to clutch contributions from Claude Giroux, Tim Stutzle, and more.
And it’s thanks to the hard work of players like Giroux that the Senators went out to make a big splash at the trade deadline for Jakob Chychrun in the first place.
Dorion – we owe it to our players to do something to help the push. Our players said please do something. I also made a promise to Claude Giroux to get something done.
— TSN 1200 (@TSN1200) March 2, 2023
There’s a lot of hype around this Senators team to play spoiler to a playoff team by sneaking into the wild card at the eleventh hour. And I get why. After all, who doesn’t love a good dark horse story come playoff time?
That being said, I would heavily advise against getting your hopes up for this Senators team. As of Wednesday, the Senators have the NHL’s second-hardest strength of schedule remaining, according to Tankathon. In the next few weeks, the Senators will have to face the likes of the Oilers and the Bruins, with two meetings each against the Maple Leafs, the Lightning, and the Hurricanes.
Talk about a tall order, especially if the Senators best goaltenders remain out long-term. It’s not completely unreasonable that the Senators find another gear this late in the season and make the playoffs off a ridiculous end-of-season run, but it has to start today. Ottawa will need to brush off that brutal Chicago loss, put it in the rearview mirror, and get back to it.
The road ahead of the Senators isn’t an easy one. These last few weeks have been a fun ride for the previously listless Senators, but now is when the real work begins. Given the competition they’ll have to face to get it done and the odds stacked against them, don’t be surprised if the Senators’ playoff dreams ultimately fall short.