Senators Lose All Hope of Making Playoffs
April 1, 2009 by Jeanne Dupuis
Filed under Eastern Conference, NHL, NHL Playoffs, News, Ottawa Senators
After losing to the Florida Panthers last night, the Ottawa Senators officially have no chance of making the Stanley Cup playoffs.
image: Newscom
The disappointing 5-2 loss, combined with the fact that the Montreal Canadiens beat the Chicago Blackhawks (4-1) meant that the Habs are a point ahead of the Sens and currently sit in the eighth and final Eastern Conference playoff spot. “It’s not something that snuck up on us,” Ottawa captain Daniel Alfredsson said. “We’ve known this situation for a long time. Our focus hasn’t been only on trying to get into the playoffs, it’s been on turning things around, which we definitely have, and now it’s a matter of trying to keep our momentum and keep playing. Even though we didn’t win today, we did a lot of great things and we’ve got to keep that going until the end of the season.”
Rookie goaltender, Brian Elliott, made 17 saves and Ottawa coach, Cory Clouston, had the following to say: “There are a couple of goals he probably should have had, the second one and even the third one. Even though there was some traffic, he opened himself up and it just went right through him. He’s a young guy, still growing, still has things he has to overcome.”
The loss has got to be tough for the Sens since they did seem to be getting their game together recently and had won 10 out of 13 of their last games. “It’s a very small margin sometimes,” Alfredsson said. “That was probably the heartbreaker for us.”
Tough break.
