Senators stung by being swept in 'really tight’ 1st-round series

OTTAWA -- Brady Tkachuk appeared shell-shocked.

The Ottawa Senators captain stood in the empty dressing room at Canadian Tire Centre, trying to process what happened minutes earlier, when the Carolina Hurricanes took a 4-2 victory in Game 4 on Saturday to sweep the Eastern Conference First Round series.

“It’s heartbreaking,” he said, his emotions roiling as much as the tempest that played out on the ice for the previous three hours. “Really tight series. Give credit to them, they are a really (good) team and play hard. Everybody in this room gave everything they had to try to extend the series. It’s tough.”

The loss itself stung. The fact that there is no more hockey to be played this season with this group was almost too much. 

The Senators believed in Game 4, likely until the second empty-net goal by Sebastian Aho, that they could make this a series. 

Why wouldn’t they? 

They pushed Game 2 to the second overtime before losing 3-2. Game 3 was a one-goal affair. The cumulative score of the series was 9-5 minus the two empty-net goals in Game 4.

“It’s just really tough,” Tkachuk said. “Didn’t want it to be over.”

The Senators did everything in their power to stay alive, despite the odds.

They were down their top two defensemen for the game. Jake Sanderson was injured in Game 3 and Artem Zub remained out after being injured in Game 1. Defenseman Thomas Chabot was playing while his fractured arm was still healing. Defenseman Tyler Kleven returned to play the final two games with a protective bubble protecting a fractured jaw.

“(We) played 10 defensemen in the first four games of a playoff series,” coach Travis Green said. “I don’t know if I’ve heard of that.”

Yet, Ottawa had the top team in the Eastern Conference this season teetering for the second half of the game. 

Drake Batherson tied the game 1-1 at 17:08 of the second period. It was Ottawa’s only goal on 21 power plays in this series, including four 5-on-3s in the two games here.

The Senators had dragged momentum to their side in an emotional middle period peppered with melees and mischief. There were 11 minor penalties in the second, five for roughing.

“We showed a lot of fight in our game and we didn’t go away quietly,” Green said. “Give their team credit. They are battle-tested. They have been through, I am sure, a lot of crazy games through the years. They found a way to get the job done in a hostile game.”

Logan Stankoven delivered the telling goal on the power play, at 9:10 of the third, using his skill to find the puck on a rebound off the end boards and shovel it past Linus Ullmark, who was in recovery mode. 

“They missed the net by 10 feet and (it’s) right on (Stankoven’s) blade and in the back of the net,” Chabot said. “It stinks, but that’s playoff hockey. There are so many little (bad) bounces that happen. It’s a game of inches out there.”

And the inches were constantly skewed in favor of the higher seed, who never allowed Ottawa the lead in any game of the series.  

“We knew it was going to be an absolute grind of a series and I think every game showed there wasn’t much room,” said Tkachuk, who did not have a point in the series and was minus-4. “Sometimes you don’t get the luck with some of the posts and some of the chances that don’t go in. 

“It’s just heartbreaking.”​

There it was again, the second time of three where he referenced a broken heart in his comments. He used other words, but they all conveyed the disappointment of a dream unfulfilled.

“There are a million words that come to mind,” Chabot said. “They are a hell of a hockey team. It all still hurts right now for sure.”

Asked what he will remember about this series, Green chose the what-ifs.

“I thought Game 2, you can say (we) could’ve won or should’ve won,” Green said. “We had lots of chances to win. Having ‘Sandy’ and Zub, would have been a world of difference. I think we were definitely the underdog going into this series, but I felt like if we were healthy … A lot of ifs.”

Ullmark played to a .932 save percentage across four games. The Senators penalty kill finished at a robust 86.7 percent, allowing two goals in 15 chances. There were things to like, for sure, but not enough. 

“Obviously, on paper, it is 4-0, but it felt a lot closer,” said Batherson, who led the team with three goals. 

“It’s heartbreaking,” Tkachuk said, finishing the hat trick of sorrow. “You come in and you just want to win a Stanley Cup, and everyone believed that in here.”

It can’t happen now, not this season. 

The Ottawa players will have exit meetings and clean out their lockers Monday, retreating to their homes to process the pain and disappointment. 

Carolina jetted home awaiting its second-round opponent, still alive in the chase for its dream.

The Senators will have to live with the regrets, the what-ifs and the heartbreak.

The solace, when it is found, is that the painful lessons sustained Saturday could lead to brighter days in the not-too-distant future.

“I think we have taken a lot of steps this year to really having a lot of belief that we’re a lot closer than we were to hopefully competing for a Stanley Cup,” Green said. “That’s what we’re here for. You don’t say that very often when you lose 4-0.”