The Senators mean business as Eastern Conference playoff race stays hot
The Ottawa Senators defeated the Detroit Red Wings 2-1 Monday night in a must-win game for a team whose grip on a Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference has loosened. Led by a 48-save effort in Linus Ullmark and a game-winning goal from Dylan Cozens, the Senators have won three straight and possess a 33-25-5 record with 71 points, good for fourth in the Atlantic Division and the No. 1 Wild Card spot in the East.
On Tuesday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Frank Seravalli and Tyler Yaremchuk discuss Ottawa’s big win and how their playoff chances look with a month to go in the regular season.
Tyler Yaremchuk: Not only did Dylan Cozens get welcomed in by the Senators faithful, but he ends up getting the game-winning goal on the power play with about five minutes remaining in the game. The story last night was Linus Ullmark, stopping 48 of 49 shots.
Frank Seravalli: Unbelievable. The atmosphere, the environment, how much the Sens needed that game. They have grinded through this season, which has not been easy. It’s been the Ullmark injuries, they had a little bit of a tough start, they found a way to get themselves to Christmas and breathe a sigh of relief, saying “You know what? We survived that long road trip, and we’re right in this thing. Our season is not lost. We’re right in the thick of it.”
Ullmark has obviously had his struggles with injury, but you also had a big watershed moment last week, seeing the emotion Brady Tkachuk had with the trade of Josh Norris, then Dylan Cozens comes in, scores an enormous goal, and he talked about just how good it’s felt to be involved in a playoff chase and to be welcomed to Ottawa the way that he has.
This team has been something else this year with what they’ve had stacked against them, and to be honest, they haven’t gotten a lot of help along the way. They were capped out, they had tough decisions to make, they couldn’t make a sizeable deadline addition without subtracting something, and now Cozens has two points in his first two games as as Ottawa Senator.
You can watch the full segment and the rest of the episode here…