It was all there for all to see in the opening 20 minutes. Everything the New York Rangers missed about Ryan Callahan from last year’s brief, unsuccessful playoff stay. Everything Ryan Callahan brings to the table. No surprise, then, that Callahan, who embodies the Rangers more than anyone else, set the tone for New York’s 4-2 victory over Ottawa in Game 1 on Thursday night.
Bobby Butler, Zenon Konopka, Rob Klinkhammer and Matt Carkner will sit Thursday night as the Ottawa Senators begin their first-round playoff series against the New York Rangers.
When it comes to the value of experience in the NHL playoffs, one image springs immediately to mind. It was a picture splashed across the front of the Citizen sports section on April 20, 2007: Pittsburgh Penguins stars Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Jordan Staal, all wearing faraway stares in the Penguins’ dressing room following their first-round defeat to the more-experienced Senators.
Once the playoffs begin, so does the politicking.
The Ottawa Senators would like to think they have a chance to upset the Eastern Conference-leading New York Rangers,
and there are many who think they can. Despite their final position in the standings, the teams are close in many areas,
which should make this one of the more compelling first-round matchups.
The Ottawa Senators took the ice for an intense practice at Scotiabank Place on Monday in an attempt to get refocused after ending the season in a slump.
The Ottawa Senators — by the time the smoke cleared Saturday night — were in as the No. 8 seed in the Eastern Conference, just three points clear of the ninth-place Buffalo Sabres, and 16th among the 16 teams that qualify for the NHL post-season.