The Senators' 3-1 victory in their final game cost the Boston Bruins the Atlantic Division title, which went instead to the Florida Panthers.
The Ottawa Senators closed out their disappointing 2023-24 season by successfully playing the spoiler role in Boston.
The Sens' 3-1 victory Tuesday night at TD Garden meant the Bruins would not repeat at Atlantic Division regular season champs. Sens goalie Anton Forsberg was the game's obvious first star, with Boston outshooting the Senators 23-2 in the third period.
For some Senator players, it might have been their final game in an Ottawa jersey, but the team came out hungry.
The Sens spent the majority of the time in the Bruins zone, limiting the Bruins’ possession and chances. The Sens suffocated and outshot the Bruins 11-3, but they were unable to find the back of the net.
The wave of strong play continued into the second period.
An unsung hero for the Senators has been Jiri Smejkal, who had been visibly unhappy after being demoted to Belleville after coming over from the Sweden in the off-season. Smejkal has been up and down from the AHL but ended his tumultuous season on a high, scoring his first career NHL goal in the last game of the season.
51 seconds later, the Senators doubled their lead to 2-0 when Jakob Chychrun finished a great cross-ice pass from Drake Batherson. If that happens to be the last game for Chychrun, who's a year away from hitting unrestricted free agency, it was a nice way to close out as a Senator.
Inevitably, a team like the Bruins were going to push back, and in the third period they did, outshooting the Senators 11-1 with a barrage of opportunities and chances. Pavel Zacha managed to score on a power play off a rebound to cut the Sens lead to 2-1.
When deciding on his starting goalie, Jacques Martin often likes to select the guy with the better record against that night's opponent. That strategy was validated with Forsberg, who had a 3-0-1 record against Boston, a 2.72 goals against average and a .922 save percentage.
Forsberg was essentially auditioning for GM Steve Staios to remain part of the team next season and he put together a fine audition tape in the third period.
The Bruins earned a late power play, as they continued the swell of momentum and chances on Forsberg. Forsberg first robbed Zacha on the power play, and then challenged arguably the best shooter in the game in David Pastrnak and denied him with a blocker save.
Forsberg finished with 22 saves in the third period, leading to Artem Zub clinching the game with an empty netter to seal the 3-1 Senators win.
"I thought we played really well for two periods, we kept them in check pretty good, and we played four lines," Martin told TSN 1200 radio after his final game. "In the third period, they came on, our goalie was the difference, made some big saves. It’s great to finish with a win for the guys.”
The Senators finished in 26th place, missing the playoffs for the seventh consecutive season.
Meanwhile, Sens fans have become experts at silver linings. Nobody in Ottawa will mind that, as a result of the Senators beating the Bruins on Tuesday night, it means the rival Toronto Maple Leafs will get the Bruins, their playoff kryptonite, in the first round.