By nearly every important metric, it’s a happy holiday season for Ottawa Senators fans.
Goal horns ring,
Are you listening?
In the slot,
Tkachuk is planting.
A beautiful sight,
They’re happy tonight,
Standing in a Wild Card Wonderland.
Forgive my ill-advised foray into Sens-related songwriting, but you’ll understand if Sens fans are adding a little song and dance to their holiday plans this year.
After weathering the storm in their usual naughty November, complete with a disheartening five-game losing streak, the Senators have become the storm, rolling through a nice December with an 8-2-1 record (including a six-game winning streak) before the holiday break.
In the past, Santa has given the Senators so many lumps of coal they could have heated up the water in the faucets at Canadian Tire Centre with it. But it sure looks like he came through this year.
With the Sens putting some distance between themselves and other teams chasing the final wild card spot, it sure seems like the proverbial corner has been turned. Of course, team history being what it is, if the Sens stop being good, there’s still loads of runway for Santa to back up his sleigh and throw everything back in his bag.
So what are some of the gifts Sens fans have been able to unwrap this year?
Playoffs? Playoffs???
Not only are the Senators holding down the final wild card, they’ve given themselves some room for error. The team has three- and four-point cushions, respectively, on the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Philadelphia Flyers. They also have a very satisfying seven-point lead on the Montreal Canadiens.
The distance between Ottawa and the free-falling Detroit Red Wings and Buffalo Sabres sits at eight and 12 points, respectively. It’s certainly not a big enough cushion to invite complacency, but it’s enough security to start looking up at the standings and the possibilities.
Both the Tampa Bay Lightning (tied with Ottawa, with three games in hand) and the Boston Bruins (two points up) are within reach, despite both teams winning seven of their last ten games. Boston is somehow winning despite a minus-17 goal differential. The Sens are a plus-seven.
In previous years, a loss like the one to the Edmonton Oilers on Sunday night would have sent fans to their abacus to come up with scenarios of “If we can win this many, and the team we’re chasing loses this many, then we can still be in it.”
For Sens fans, it’s refreshing to watch their team lose a close game and simply shrug it off with, “Oh…