Four Thoughts For Friday: It’s Tough Out Here

I've come a long way over the last ten years. I was in tears after the Dale Weise incident, and now I'm able to write four thoughts in the wake of an eerily similar goal from Simon Benoit. Still can't crank out the full five in my current state, sorry guys. Tell you what, I'll come up with a fifth thought if the Sens force a fifth game. Deal?

Linus Ullmark Can't Win Against the Leafs

It doesn't matter if the goals he's allowing aren't Korpisalo-esque, because it's all relative. Compared to Anthony Stolarz, Linus Ullmark has provided the Senators with a level of goaltending that you can't win with, unless you're playing teams much, much worse than the Toronto Maple Leafs. Yes, many skaters, such as Drake Batherson just to be specific, have committed mental mistakes that have led to goals against. But Leaf players have done the same, if not more – just without the goals because a big difference is that they've been bailed out by better goaltending. Before Game 1, I said we needed peak Linus Ullmark to even have a fighting chance, and it's honestly impressive that the Sens have forced overtime twice in spite of his absence. Considering this has happened to him twice, on different teams, with different teammates and coaches, would you at this point say "screw it, Leevi Merilainen saved our season once, can he do it again?"

Well, I wouldn't, but only because if he actually does the thing he'll price himself out of an extension in Ottawa and get offer sheeted.

Ottawa Still Needs to Learn How to Score

Travis Green has done very well to instill a new defense-first mentality into the Sens over the course of the season, but that's only half the battle. Even the best defensive teams end up with 3-4 pucks in the back of their net on occasion, in which case they can still win by outscoring their problems. Outside of a number of games I can count on one hand, that's unfortunately never been Green's Sens. They've only managed 6 goals in 3 games in these playoffs, but it was arguably worse in the regular season, during which they played plenty of worse teams and goalies. Prior to March, they were on pace to be the second-worst team in terms of 5-on-5 shooting percentage in the last five years, only better than the 2021 Power-hungry Sabres. They're the weakest offensive team in these playoffs, and that's a fact. It's a shortcoming in Green's system that, at least for this season, is an acceptable trade-off for the improved defense, but next year, and not sucks to be thinking ahead to next year, key adjustments are necessary.

Nobody Will Remember Brady's Goal

Hate to break it to you, Brady Tkachuk, but your game-tying goal yesterday, which could've gone down in history as an all-time classic, will be buried alongside the rest of the Ottawa playoff goals scored in vain. Erik Karlsson's insane passes to Mike Hoffman, Derick Brassard, and Bobby Ryan will remain at the forefront of my happy memories along with massive games from Kyle Turris, Jean-Gabriel Pageau, heck, even Colin Greening. I'm going a step further, folks. Jared Cowen and Alex Burrows, two of the most infamous Ottawa Senators of all time, are still remembered fondly by yours truly by inflicting serious damage on the 2013 Habs and 2017 Rangers respectively. Seriously folks, I saw the Blueshirt Banter comment section in 2017 and I've never seen more rage in my life. Want to join this mostly elite club of clutch performers? Win a playoff game. We need a big Brady moment in a playoff win, very badly.

The Leafs Took 8 Years to Figure It Out

To be honest, that's a lie. They still haven't figured it out – they've won just one game in the second round since 2004. In fact, many teams that have run the same core for years haven't had success in the playoffs – just look at the Carolina Hurricanes: they've yet to reach the Final since their massive run back in 2019. Ottawa's core is still (Travis) Green when it comes to playoff experience, so they can learn from this ongoing blowout and come back stronger next year. Just getting back to the playoffs is a successful year for the Senators, whereas teams that have been here for years would consider a second-round or even a conference finals exit to be a lost season. It's all a matter of perspective. I’m trying to remain grounded here. It’s tough.