On Saturday night, with a 4-2 road victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Ottawa Senators reached the midpoint of the month with the best record in the NHL for March — and it's not particularly close.
After a five-game slide around the NHL’s 4 Nations Face-off break, the Senators have been crafting their own version of March Madness with a 7-0-1 record, which translates to a smooth .938 points percentage. The only blemish is a small one; surrendering a point in the skills competition to the Washington Capitals, the best team in the NHL.
This streak has been a season-saver. On the final day of February, the Senators were on a five-game losing streak and trailed both the Detroit Red Wings and the Columbus Blue Jackets by four points for the two wild-card spots.
What a difference a couple of weeks can make.
Now, the Senators are six points above the playoff line, sitting as the top wild-card team with 77 points, five points ahead of the New York Rangers (72 points). The Montreal Canadiens, currently the best non-playoff team, sit just behind with 71 points, making Tuesday's game in Montreal another important matchup.
But every game in this run has been big, which is part of what makes it so impressive.
Throughout their seven-season playoff drought, the Senators have had hot streaks before, but this is the time of year when victories are hardest to come by, so this one stands out by a significant margin.
For the first time, this generation of the Ottawa Senators is winning big games under the pressure of actually having something to lose.
And there's been no shortage of in-game resilience, either. For instance, a glance at the graphic above reminds us they trailed the lowly San Jose Sharks and Chicago Blackhawks but managed to come back and win.
They looked dead and buried against the New York Rangers before rallying from a 3-1 third-period deficit to win in overtime. And in their last four victories, the Senators managed to fend off deficits or momentum swings that might have overwhelmed other versions of this team from the past.
It goes without saying that now is not the time for the Senators to indulge in the "look how well we're doing" exercise we're doing here. The Blue Jackets and Red Wings have plummeted in March – prime examples of how quickly things can change.
The Ides of March — March 15 — became infamous in Roman history as the day Julius Caesar was assassinated by a group of senators. The phrase has since come to symbolize a warning about impending danger or a potential turning point.
After a big March 15 win in Toronto, Ottawa fans are hoping the only thing that gets "assassinated" in the second half of the month is the Senators' long playoff drought.
By Steve Warne
Site Editor at The Hockey News Ottawa
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