Playoff Clinching Scenarios and Five Great Ottawa Senator Playoff Trivia Questions
The Ottawa Senators' eight-year, seven-season Stanley Cup playoff drought is about to end. It's not a matter of if but when. After the Senators defeated the Columbus Blue Jackets 4-0 on Sunday at Canadian Tire Centre, they all but nailed down a spot in the postseason.
May 13, 2017: Bobby Ryan scores the overtime goal to defeat the Pittsburgh Penguins in game one of the NHL Eastern Final (Don Wright-Imagn Images).With five games to play, the only way the Sens don't get in is if they lose all five remaining games in regulation, while either the New York Rangers or Detroit Red Wings win all six of theirs.
There is zero chance of that.
Ottawa can clinch Wild Card 2 as early as Tuesday night with a win or overtime loss in Columbus, or in any of the four games that follow. For Wild Card 1, there's still some work to do. Montreal has won five in a row and stands five points back of the Sens.
With the banged-up Florida Panthers hitting the skids, now riding a five-game losing slide (0-4-1), the Senators still have ample time to catch them for third place in the Atlantic. Ottawa stands two points behind the champs with five games to play, which sets up an intriguing discussion about seeding.
Many Sens fans would prefer Toronto (A1) in round one, and not just to try and settle old scores. Ottawa went 3-0 against the Leafs this season, so maintaining the Wild Card 1 position might prove to be a better option than moving up to A3 and getting the impressive Tampa Bay Lightning (A2) right out of the gate.
The Senators enter Tuesday's game 13 games above the .500 mark at 42-29-6. They're already guaranteed to finish with their best record since 2017, when they finished 16 games above .500 at 44-28-10 and in second place in the Atlantic Division.
As most fans remember, the Senators made it to the conference final that year, coming within one game and one goal of the Stanley Cup Final. Since then, Senators fans have endured a lot of bad hockey, poor decisions, and general nonsense.
Now that they've joyfully emerged from that – like Andy Dufresne through 500 yards of Shawshank sewer pipe – they’re ready to embrace the freedom from 8 years of misery and the third-longest active NHL playoff drought.
With the window now open to better days in both the present and future, here are five Sens trivia questions from the better days of the past.
If you're reading this on The Hockey News, just scroll down for the answers. If you're reading it elsewhere, you can find the answers in the comments section of The Senators Roundtable.
1. Who are the only four active NHL players who were part of Ottawa's last playoff run?
2. Ottawa won six overtime games in the 2017 playoffs. Who scored the OT winners?
3. The 2017 Penguins playoff roster had one former Senator (who played here in 2010) and two future Senators. Name them (Ian Cole, who never played for Ottawa, doesn't count).
4. Which player who played for the Sens in the 2017 playoffs most recently played for the Senators?
5. Who was the last goalie, other than Craig Anderson, to win a playoff game for the Senators?
By Steve Warne
Ottawa Senators Site Editor
The Hockey News