If you believe that hockey teams can carry momentum from one game to the next in a Stanley Cup Playoff series, then the Senators might as well set up a proper stall in their locker room for Ol' Man Momentum.
Since Jake Sanderson's overtime goal in Game 4, Big Mo has been on Ottawa's side and will be again on Thursday night – at least to start Game 6 of the Battle of Ontario.
After losing the first three games of the series—two of them in overtime—the Senators have responded nicely, winning each of the past two games, including a 4-0 win in Toronto on Tuesday.
For Ottawa hockey fans, most of whom don't much care for the Leafs, this momentum has restored faith and excitement in the series. So, on Thursday night, Canadian Tire Centre is expected to be, as Brady Tkachuk put it on Tuesday, "pure insanity."
Brady Tkachuk On Thursday's Game 6 Atmosphere in Ottawa: 'I Expect Pure Insanity'In the moments after being announced as one of the game's three stars on Saturday night in Ottawa, Senators captain Brady Tkachuk gestured to centre ice, telling fans the team would be coming back for Game 6.
"This is not just about our team,” Tkachuk said on Thursday. “It's about our city. You could feel the excitement, and we're going to need it tonight. I mean, the amount of energy, pride we get from our fans, this city, it's something that I don't really think they know the impact that they have on our team.
"The season's on the line again tonight, so it's going to be a lot of fun."
For Tkachuk and the Senators, it's been baptism by fire. Their young core is learning all the things that only actual playoff experience can teach. They're getting exposure to a completely different kind of intensity and learning what it takes to succeed in these fierce circumstances when everyone is watching. It will serve them well for the rest of this season, however long it runs, and on into next season and beyond.
Head coach Travis Green shared that view when asked about where the Senators have made their biggest strides in this series.
"A lot of areas,” Green said. “Just the comfortability of playing playoff hockey, the importance of certain parts of the ice. Things you talk about all year that get magnified during playoff hockey. You grow up watching playoff hockey, but until you play it you don't really know where that intensity level gets to until you actually go through it. So probably, if I have to name one area, it would be the intensity part of it."
Toronto faces a different kind of intensity via pressure. As if they didn't already have enough—from being the heavy favourite, or their 58-year Stanley Cup drought, or the fear of being the fifth team in NHL history to blow a 3–0 series lead—now they're having to hear daily about their historical inability to close.
Going back to 2018, they’re now 1–13 in playoff games where a victory would have eliminated their opponent. And in those games, according to NHL.com, the Leafs have gone 0-26 on the power play.
Not only has the Leafs' power play come up empty in the past two games, but they've also given up a short-handed goal in each. That’s the risk teams run when they roll with their five best forwards and defencemen. It often creates extra danger at both ends.
As far as changes go on Thursday, veteran forward Max Pacioretty will slide up to the second line with William Nylander and John Tavares. He takes the place of Pontus Holmberg, who has zero points in the series. So, that's a roster edit that feels like a 'What took you so long?' kind of move.
The Sens aren’t messing with anything. They're hoping to cling to their momentum to force Game 7 and a chance at history on Saturday night.
For more great Senators coverage from The Hockey News, be sure to check out THN.com/Ottawa.
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