Senators face uphill battle with 2-0 series deficit upon return home
Down 2-0 in their NHL first-round playoff series against the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Ottawa Senators find themselves facing an uphill battle.
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Down 2-0 in their NHL first-round playoff series against the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Ottawa Senators find themselves facing an uphill battle.
The Senators are now back home, looking to draw on the hard lessons of the past few years and push back with everything they’ve got in Game 3 on Thursday.
“I think it’s definitely, it’s not a series until somebody loses at home,” Ottawa forward Ridley Greig said Wednesday. “So, you know, we’ve got to take care of business here and kind of have a business mindset here going into this game.”
There was no doubt Ottawa looked like a team playing its first playoff game in eight years in Game 1 on Sunday in Toronto. The Senators were undisciplined, and the Leafs took advantage scoring three power-play goals en route to a 6-2 victory.
Ottawa improved its play in Tuesday’s Game 2, taking just one penalty while coming back from a 2-0 deficit to force overtime.
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A turnover and defensive breakdown allowed Toronto’s Max Domi to score the overtime winner at 3:09 and provide the Leafs with a 3-2 win and a commanding 2-0 series lead.
“You live and you learn,” said forward Drake Batherson, whose turnover led to the overtime winner. “I mean, you make a mistake, and you learn from it, and sometimes it’s the hard way, and obviously, cost us the game. So, live and learn.”
The Senators now return to the Canadian Tire Centre where they posted a solid 27-11-3 record and will look to turn the series around.
Despite the challenge ahead, the Senators remain confident.
“You can’t be dwelling on the last game,” Batherson said. “Going in to (Thursday’s) game it’s not going to do myself or anyone any good. So, like I said, a lot of confidence in the group.”
Senators coach Travis Green spoke of the importance of turning the page, but also needing to make necessary adjustments.
“There are certain things that we wanted to do from game one to game two that I thought really helped,” said Green. “And then from game two to game three each team is going to kind of make a few little adjustments here and there, and you hope that they help.”
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The Senators know there are a number of things they can do better, such as getting off to a stronger start.
Ottawa gave up the first goal in its first two games and have been forced to chase the game. The team will be looking to build off the energy of its fans, but goaltender Linus Ullmark stressed the importance of playing smart, disciplined hockey from puck drop to the final buzzer.
“It’s always nice to come out with guns blazing, but you have to have a little bit of joyful aggression to it as well,” Ullmark said.
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Much of this season was about growth for the Senators, who are back in the post-season after a seven-year drought. They will need to put those lessons to use Thursday.
“Our team’s done a good job the last four months if things aren’t going their way, resetting and during the game, and not getting away from it and moving on, and not just during the game, but from game-to-game,” said Green. “And I think that’s important in playoff hockey.
“These are all the things that we’ve been trying to talk to our team about during the regular season and hopefully it helps in the playoffs.”
