Can we all admit that was a weird sensation watching Sunday’s overtime loss against the New Jersey Devils?
After weeks of nerve-wracking, intense games that frayed our collective emotions, Sunday’s contest at the Prudential Center was infused with a bizarre measure of calmness. Overtime losses have stung on multiple occasions this season, but dropping Sunday’s 4-3 decision didn’t come with any tension or heaviness attached.
That’s because punching our ticket to the playoffs on Saturday alleviated virtually all the tension and pressure associated with these final two regular season games.
This has been a remarkable journey, brushing up against the lore of the Hamburglar run from the spring of 2015. After languishing at the bottom of the Eastern Conference in late January, this team had a meteoric rise to a playoff spot over the past eight weeks.
And there is plenty of credit to go around.
Travis Green’s coaching style has created a dependable and responsible system that has laid the foundation for success.
Linus Ullmark has been outstanding, posting a 14-4-3 record since returning from a leave of absence on January 31 – the most wins of any NHL goalie in that span.
Star players have delivered too, with Tim Stützle (28 points in 27 games), Brady Tkachuk (26 points in 27 games), Drake Batherson (13 goals) and Dylan Cozens (10 goals) all producing at an impressive clip since January 31.
And none of this would be possible without the herculean efforts of a handful of defencemen, who rose to the occasion while stars like Jake Sanderson and Thomas Chabot were sidelined.
Add in a couple of savvy acquisitions from Steve Staios – in the form of James Reimer and Warren Foegele – and it’s easy to see how this Ottawa team found its stride over the past two months.
But there is one piece of the puzzle that you don’t know about.
Last season, I asked the owner of a Boston restaurant – infamous for lifting curses – to help break the Senators extended playoff drought. It worked and we made the playoffs for the first time since 2017.
And this season, I knew something similar had to be done, especially when our playoff chances were perilous.
So let’s go back to March 4 in Calgary.
The previous night, we watched a 4-2 lead evaporate in the third period, as the Oilers staged a dramatic comeback to beat us 5-4 in overtime.
It was our second loss in three games after the Olympic break and the margin to make the post-season had become razor thin. I knew I had to execute something akin to the Boston curse-breaking ceremony from last season.
On that day in Calgary, I went for lunch with our digital and content team on the road – including my podcast co-host Jackson Starr, our social media manager Dan Chisholm and our videographer Andrea Bougiouklis.
After lunch wrapped up, I told the crew that we needed to do something to change our luck and mojo. We were in the heart of Chinatown and I suggested we hit a cheap jewellery store to purchase some good luck bracelets.
One by one, we each picked up a bracelet, making sure there were no duplicates. Mine was a tiny gold heart, with some dragons depicted on it.
We referred to them as ‘amulets’ from that point forward, vowing to bring them to every single Senators game, hoping they would ward off evil spirits and bad luck.
From that point forward, we played to a .714 points percentage – the second-best record in the NHL.
Was the March 5 acquisition of Warren Foegele – who has never missed the playoffs – a bigger reason for the team’s sudden infusion of good luck?
Who’s to say?
But we really believe those amulets played a small role in changing the energy around the team.
If you changed up a habit or routine that coincided with the Senators remarkable turnaround this season, we would love to hear about it. Maybe you deserve some credit too.
Drop us an email to [email protected]
Trivia time:
With the playoffs on the horizon, I figured a Sens post-season trivia question would be fitting for this week.
Can you name the three players who scored at least 10 playoff goals for Ottawa – while also scoring 10+ playoff goals for a different NHL team?
Answer at the bottom of this column.
Behind the scenes of our ‘Clinched’ video on social media
On April 2, we had a playoff strategy meeting for our communications and content department.
You’re always leery of these types of meetings because you don’t want to get caught putting the cart before the horse. It happened to the Boston Bruins in 2015, prompting this legendary Sens tweet.
So we’re always mindful of the jinx factor and we make sure that nothing is public facing until a playoff spot is officially clinched. But you have to start planning aggressively internally, because you have to be ready for all potential scenarios.
In that meeting on April 2, we discussed a number of potential videos to roll out on socials if we were to clinch a playoff spot. Our social media manager Dan Chisholm (from the amulet fame) had the great idea of showing the story of this season through a handful of the most pessimistic tweets from January.
I was fully on board and suggested we can have a bit of fun with “X” – a subtle nod to the social media platform and the letter used to officially clinch a playoff spot. Our videographer Ben Coles put together this video – but he really needed our help in tracking down some of the most pessimistic tweets.
On Thursday afternoon – a few hours before our game against the Panthers – Dan sat in my office and we combed through hundreds of tweets from the month of January. It was kind of fun in a morbid way, searching through the timelines of our fans and media for the most pessimistic tweets. Most of them came from that single week in January, when we watched multi-goal leads evaporate against Montreal, Detroit and Nashville in the span of five days.
Tracking down those receipts was a great reminder that even though our season was teetering on a cliff in the middle of January, Ottawa fans never lost their passion. The biggest fear in the sports world is apathy setting in, allowing resignation and indifference to become the guiding emotions of the fanbase.
And that’s what makes this playoff scenario even more satisfying. Our fans lived through those hellacious weeks in January, which allows you to fully embrace and appreciate this playoff berth.
We’re very forgiving around here, so if you’d like to send us your most pessimistic tweet about this season – that you secretly wish made the cut for our video – send it over to us via email at [email protected].
We won’t judge you.
Media roundup: Looking back at some interesting and fun Senators stories you might have missed over the past seven days.
Shane Pinto has routinely faced the toughest competition this season, often tasked with shutting down the opposition’s best players. Graeme Nichols takes a deeper look at why Shane should be a legitimate Selke trophy finalist this year.
Linus Ullmark was named as the Masterton trophy nominee by the Ottawa chapter of the Professional Hockey Writers Association last week. Linus did a small scrum with a handful of local writers – which produced terrific pieces like this one from Alex Adams with Sportsnet.
This has been a roller coaster season to say the least. Who better to recap it than the legendary Roy MacGregor. Some great words from a great writer.
The iconic Hockey Night in Canada towels are one of the best keepsakes in the hockey world. Julian McKenzie has a fun story on them in The Athletic, featuring the voices of Warren Foegele, Claude Giroux and Drake Batherson.
Playoff nuggets:
We’ve had lots of questions about our playoff planning.
Yes, we’re planning on having outdoor watch parties in our CIBC Red Zone plaza outside Gate 1 at Canadian Tire Centre for our home and road games.
And while we don’t have our dates for home playoff games yet – that will come after the regular season concludes – our single game tickets will go on sale to the general public later this week.
If you’ve got 15 minutes, I highly encourage you to listen to this interview Cyril Leeder did on Monday morning with TSN 1200. He answers a lot of the questions that fans have been asking.
And this is a great reminder for our fans to download our app, which just launched a few weeks ago. If you want the latest news on tickets and fan events, get the app and turn on your notifications – you won’t miss a thing.
Trivia answer: The three players: Mike Fisher (14 playoff goals with Ottawa; 10 with Nashville), Marian Hossa (13 playoff goals with Ottawa; 21 with Chicago; 12 with Pittsburgh) and Jean-Gabriel Pageau (12 with Ottawa; 12 with NY Islanders).
