BY DEREK CARSON – FAN FUEL BLOGGER
What a beautiful day to be a Sens fan. Last night, the Ottawa Senators beat the Montreal Canadiens 6-1, taking the first round playoff series in five games; and they owe it all to their goalie, Craig Anderson.
If life as a Sens fan were a TV show, it would be called “Everything’s Fine” brought to you by Craig Anderson, featuring his goal posts, with special guest star: The Crossbar.
Only once in my life have I felt so secure with who was in net and it was back in 2005-2006 when Dominik Hasek played 43 games for the Senators. Hasek’s record with us was 28-10-4 and he had a .925 save percentage and a 2.09 goals against average.
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Until now, Hasek had clearly been the best goalie to play for Ottawa.
Until Craig Anderson.
In the first five minutes of last night’s game, the Habs by all rights should have been up 3-0, but instead, the Sens were up 1-0. It didn’t make any sense. It was an unreasonable outcome considering the amount, and the quality, of scoring chances the Habs had; unreasonable, except for the presence of Craig Anderson in net.
Craig Anderson and Chicago’s Corey Crawford both lead the playoffs with an impressive .950 save percentage. What makes Anderson even more impressive is that he’s had to face the most shots of any goalie in the playoffs, almost 20 more shots than Toronto’s James Reimer (who’s had to face the second most shots) and 40 more than Corey Crawford.
Craig Anderson doesn’t just stop the puck from going in; he stops the opponent from thinking that their shot is going in. At no time am I ever worried about a shot getting through him. For someone to score on Anderson, it would have to be either a perfect shot or a fluke goal. Nothing else can get by him, and everyone knows it now.
The Sens will likely face the Pittsburgh Penguins in the next round. It will be a bitter, emotional series that will test the pesky Sens and push them to the limit. It’s going to be nerve-wracking for everyone involved and there won’t be many people out there picking us to win.
But I have a message to all the Sens fans out there, and it’s brought to you by Craig Anderson: everything’s fine.