Ottawa Senators Best of the Decade: Greatest Plays
There’s too many to choose from.
Welcome back to the Best of the Decade series! If this is your first time coming across this series, we’ve gathered the Silver Seven writers together to reflect on the best and worst moments of this decade of Sens hockey.
Our previous posts have tackled the most memorable regular season games, playoff games, and most gruelling moments.
Today’s question: In the past decade, what was the greatest goal/individual play from a Sens player?
nkb: I feel like this one gets forgotten in the annals of time since his acquisition was ill-fated, but Ales Hemsky’s goal against the Tampa Bay Lightning is my choice here. It’s a nothing play in the neutral zone when Hemsky gets the puck but he pulls off the slick move between his own legs to dance around Radko Gudas then dekes Ben Bishop out of this space time continuum. It’s a stunning individual effort for the goal.
Ross: The Spezza assist against Winnipeg. Just an incredible individual effort.
Brandon: Michalek’s shorthanded goal, Game 4 against Pittsburgh in 2013. I was in the crowd for that one (I don’t get to too many games), and the speed with which he pulled away from Malkin and the Penguins came out of nowhere. The reaction when he scored was electric. That’s a moment I’ll never forget, despite the disappointing finish, and it being Alfredsson’s last home game.
thedaigle1: November 20th 2013, Clarke MacArthur’s filthy pass to Kyle Turris for a shorthanded goal against the Minnesota Wild. Just two guys who came to Ottawa to revive their careers when everyone else had given up on them showing beautiful chemistry and giving the fans in Ottawa something to believe in.
Shaan: Hemsky’s goal against the Bolts is my favourite, without a doubt, but in an effort to maintain some diversity, I’m going to give some love to a goaltender. And we’re going back in time, as far back as possible for this list, all the way to January 19, 2010. Long story short, we ought to be forever grateful to Brian Elliott for two things. A) Craig Anderson. B) This.
Spencer: Probably a popular answer but the first thing that came to mind for me was the Karlsson to Hoffman saucer pass goal against Boston in the playoffs. To pull that kind of goal off, with the Peter Forsberg-esque finish, against Boston in a playoff game. Phenomenal.
Ary: Erik Karlsson’s pass, on one good leg, to Derick Brassard against Boston. Much has been made of the Marchand-Bergeron-Pastrnak-Chara-Rask Bruins, and for good reason, but they didn’t look scary against Erik Karlsson that year. Keep beating the Leafs for us, though!
N_Dew: Pretty much all of Karlsson’s efforts in the 2017 playoffs. But I remember Anderson’s performance in Edmonton after coming back from his wife’s diagnosis was one of the most memorable goaltending performances I’ve seen.
Colin: I’ll choose a different Michalek goal — call it the precursor to Hoffman’s goal against the Bruins. Karlsson blasted an incredible end-to-end pass, and Milan finished it off with an incredible move. His celebration is also up there as one of the decade’s best.
In a decade chock-full of incredible individual efforts, what was your favourite? We surely missed a bunch, so let us know in the comments. Come back tomorrow for the fifth and final instalment!