Thanks for Playing: Ottawa Senators

On Saturday night the Ottawa Senators season came to an end after losing to the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-3 in overtime. This despite jumping out to a 3-0 lead before the Penguins came storming back. Today we will look back at how they got in, what went wrong & where they go from here.

How they got in:

For most of the 2000's the Senators were one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference yet they always found a way to underachieve in the post-season. They seem to have gotten over the hump in 2007 when they reached the Stanley Cup Finals only to lose to Anaheim in 5 games.

Everything went downhill for the Sens after that. They limped into the 2008 playoffs and were swept by Pittsburgh and they failed to qualify in 2009.

They got rid of some underachievers on their roster and Brain Elliott was able to seize the job in goal from Pascal Leclaire. Because of this the Senators were able to bounce back quickly and clinch a spot in this post-season as the #5 seed.

What went wrong:

They surprised the Penguins in Game 1 winning by a score of 5-4, a game where Brian Elliott played better than Pittsburgh goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury. That seemed to wake up the Penguins as they took the next three games.

Ottawa was able to stave off elimination in game 5 coming from behind to win 4-3 in Triple overtime and force a game 6. In the end the Penguins proved to be a better team eventually finding a way to win Game 6 on an overtime goal by Pascal Dupuis.

Where do they go from here:

What we don't know is if the Senators have bounced back for good or if this is an aberration. They seemed in a free fall last season and they surprised a lot of experts by making the post-season.

Their goaltending still is unsettled. Elliott took the job from Leclaire only to concede it back to him in Game 5. Centre Jason Spezza always seems to be in the middle of trade rumors. Whether Ottawa parts with him or not remains to be seen.

They will need to increase their depth up front & on the blue line if they want to compete in the East next season. OnThis team snuck up on a lot of teams last season. That won't happen next year.