Fans boost ‘devastated’ Senators with send-off to remember despite loss
Ottawa Senators fans roared approval of their up-and-coming squad after their season ended on home ice in Game 6. Rarely has a playoff loss to a longtime rival been this OK.
The Toronto Maple Leafs won a playoff series. Not an every day event.
This one was on the road, in Ottawa. And as the final seconds ticked down in the deciding game, a capacity crowd stood on its feet, chanted mightily and cheered crazily.
Leafs fans taking over the Canadian Tire Centre again?
Not a chance.
These were fans of the Ottawa Senators, owning their building and roaring their approval of an up-and-coming Sens team that fought back from an 0-3 series hole to take Toronto to six games. Losing has rarely been this OK. All but Game 1 was so close that on any given night the decision could have gone the other direction.
Game 6 was typical. Veteran David Perron tied the score 2-2 in the third period before another aging playoff lion, Max Pacioretty, scored the game winner with about five minutes remaining in the third. Three of the six games went to extra time. Critically, the Leafs won two of the three OT thrillers.
When it was done, even from the 400 level, we were sure we saw tears running down the faces of Ottawa captain Brady Tkachuk and goaltender Linus Ullmark as they embraced prior to the post-series handshake line with the victorious Leafs — one of the greatest traditions in hockey.
“Bra-dy!!” “Bra-dy!!” fans chanted in defeat. And more rounds of “Go Sens Go!!”
The captain, a four-goal scorer in the series, and his mates raised their sticks to the sky to salute the faithful.
Right back at you, they seemed to be saying to the adoring crowd.
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Having covered all of the previous Battle of Ontario scenes, four Toronto victories over Ottawa from 2000 to 2004, I didn’t think I would see a day when the Leafs would run the streak to five and have fans in the nation’s capital react with such unbridled joy.
This city loves its team, adores its captain, and wants him to know they’re in it for the long haul.
The beauty of this relationship — Tkachuk loves them right back.
“I just really wanted to do it for this city and fan base,” Tkachuk said, his words almost inaudible through the emotion. He tried in vain to will this team to Round 2.
Things happen for a reason, he said, a phrase that local hockey legend Brian Kilrea is fond of uttering as well. The best is yet to come. Maybe next season that matchup with his brother Matthew and the Florida Panthers will be on the table.
Fans know when a player and his team care as much as they do themselves. And that was the feeling on the radio airwaves on the drive home from the arena as the local sports station opened its lines to callers. Traditionally, following a series loss to the Leafs, there would be venting by fans and hand-holding by hosts to guide them through the grieving process.
None of that this time. After an eight-year playoff drought, fans were thrilled on two fronts: A) The team finally qualified again. B) They never quit.
Even in the dying seconds, with an empty netter by Toronto having killed the drama, Senators players drove the net and tried to get at least one more goal before the buzzer sounded on this precious season.
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For the first time in Senators history, the club had set up a free watch party with a TV screen outside the CTC. Fans dressed up like Roman gladiators and partied in the rain. They stocked up on $2 hot dogs and $5 beers. Lasting memories forged.
The Senators are growing older as a franchise — 33 years now. The kids who grew up watching this team in the early 1990s — first a kind of hapless, loveable expansion team under the horrific roster rules of the day, and then an admirable group, finally a contender before a long rebuild — are themselves adults now with their own children.
On Thursday night you imagined this next generation of fans getting swept up in that electric emotion, right up there among the greatest playoff vibes this team has generated.
Players, too, got swept up in the mood. The ecstasy and the agony.
“Devastating,” Tkachuk said, in defeat.
“Devastating,” echoed Ullmark. “Gut-wrenching.”
Ever the philosopher-netminder, Ullmark said that the feeling now is strange. Unique to playoff hockey. Gone is all the pressure. No more worrying about the next game or the next save.
“But it’s very sad,” Ullmark said. “There’s no hockey now until September.”
In the days ahead, Ullmark said he might think about an extra save that could have made a difference. Perhaps he could have taken Game 6 to OT, where Ottawa could’ve been in a one-shot-wins scenario once more. Those thoughts will be agonizing to him, he said.
Another honest and caring answer from a Senators player who wants to win every bit as deeply as the fan who paid $300 for a standing room ticket.
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Of course, expectations are a big part of Ottawa’s reaction to a series defeat in six games.
So starved was this city for playoff hockey that just getting to Canada’s most beloved spring dance would have been enough. That this young team — more than half playing in their first playoff series — scratched and clawed and grew into men seemingly before our eyes endeared them to all.
As the Senators mature into a true contender, first-round losses won’t cut it anymore. They will be expected to win, get on deep runs.
A recurring theme in the dressing room post-game was the notion that the road gets tougher, not easier.
Next season, the Senators will have a target on their backs, Perron said. Teams will be gunning for them. It will be challenging just to get in again, but the goal will be much more.
“The next step is even harder,” said Perron, who owns a Stanley Cup ring from St. Louis.
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First-year head coach Travis Green said much the same in his podium address. And you had to think these will be the parting messages from all the coaching staff and general manager Steve Staios to the players.
They’re extremely proud of the group. They saw the growth from Game 1 to Game 6 — and especially the Game 5 win in Toronto. But now comes a summer of work, some tinkering of the lineup and the recognition that success will not come easily. A first taste guarantees nothing.
“It’s not easy to make the playoffs,” Green said. “And it’s even harder when you do.”
For now, the afterglow of this season is enough to satisfy a smitten community.
The future looks bright and owner Michael Andlauer and his hockey operations staff are visibly driven to build a championship team in the nation’s capital.
Spending, doing, whatever it takes.
What could be better than that?
