OTTAWA – The clock had already ticked past 1 a.m. in St. John’s, N.L., on Monday morning when the puck crossed the goal-line.
But the Ottawa Senators could be reasonably sure that Colin Greening’s double overtime winner was as well received by hockey fans in Newfoundland as it was in the nation’s capital. As one of seven Newfoundlanders currently playing in the NHL — and one of three still alive in these playoffs — Greening gets plenty of attention in his hometown.
A goal like the one he scored to end Game 3 against the Pittsburgh Penguins is bound to boost his star power back home just a little bit more.
“I would say for sure he is (a star) — absolutely he is,” Senators coach Paul MacLean said Monday at Scotiabank Place. “He’s a star at my house, I know that. And in Maryvale, N.S., he’s a star, where my mother (Alma) is, I know that for sure. Colin’s very proud of where he’s from and I’m sure they’re very proud of him today.
“He’s really making his way in the Stanley Cup playoffs.”
The same can be said for a Senators team that is the last Canadian outfit standing in the NHL playoffs for a second straight year.
The deeper the team plays into the spring, the more attention it will receive from coast to coast to coast. While there may not truly be such a thing as becoming Canada’s team — players from every corner of the nation are still competing for the Stanley Cup with the seven American-based teams that remain alive — the Senators are cognizant of the added attention their current situation comes with.
After all, they are bidding to end a head-scratching streak that defies statistical probability.
The 20-year anniversary of the Montreal Canadiens victory in the 1993 Stanley Cup will pass on June 9 and it’s almost as if some kind of curse has been placed on the NHL teams that play in the homeland of hockey ever since.
While 12 different American teams have lifted the distinguished silver trophy during that period, the Senators, Canadiens, Maple Leafs, Oilers, Flames, Canucks and Jets have been denied.
The weight of trying to end that stretch increases a little bit each year.
“There’s a lot of pressure in this country to win and high expectations, but I have no real answer (as to why it’s happened),” Ottawa centre Jason Spezza said. “We’ve been close before. Vancouver’s been close. Calgary’s been close. It’s such a fine line that sometimes stats and numbers and stuff can be skewed to mislead and this might be one of the cases.
“There’s been some good teams that have been real close.”
There is a feeling around the Senators that they are trending back in that direction.
It was just six years ago that Ottawa marched to the Stanley Cup final with a 12-3 record through the opening three rounds before losing in five games to Anaheim. That was a bitterly disappointing defeat and the Sens haven’t been close to championship calibre since.
However, under MacLean’s stewardship and with a growing young stable of players, they appear to be working their way back up to it.
That is an encouraging sign for a veteran like Spezza who yearns to erase the memory of what happened back in 2007.
“When you lose in the final it will always stick with you I think — especially until you win,” he said. “We had a great team, a great opportunity and our window closed on us. We feel like we’re building our window back up here now to take another run at things.
“You learn from those times and you learn from maybe what we did wrong and that stuff you draw on when you get into pressure situations.”
The Senators are very much the underdog against a stacked Penguins team, but proved Sunday that they can compete with Pittsburgh. The challenge will be to replicate that performance starting with Game 4 on Wednesday.
While it might remain a long shot, no one needs to remind the seventh-seeded Senators that Los Angeles won the whole thing as an eighth seed last spring.
In a parity-filled NHL, anything is possible.
The fans in Ottawa have truly embraced the team and everyone within the organization is trying to feed off the positive energy at home.
“There’s a buzz around the city, it’s very exciting,” MacLean said. “In a Canadian city, it’s way different than being in a U.S. city in the Stanley Cup playoffs. Ottawa is no different.
“It’s been a lot of fun right now.”
Yes, and why not?
A lot of things seem to be going right after a regular season where so much went wrong. Craig Anderson backed up a rough outing in Game 2 with a 49-save victory in Game 3 and role players like Greening have taken their play to a new level.
During a NHL career that has stretched over 168 games, the 27-year-old Newfoundlander now has 34 goals — roughly one every five games on average.
Yet Greening has found the back of the net in all three games against Pittsburgh in this second-round series and none were bigger than the one he potted in double overtime on Sunday night.
“If you look back at some of the years we had long playoff runs — it’s timely goals by unheralded guys a lot of times that get you there,” Spezza said. “When we went to the final (in 2007), Oleg Saprykin scored. Guys that don’t contribute a lot offensively can score big goals because it’s so tight-checking and the game changes in the playoffs.
“This team definitely has a lot of character and we’ve had contributions from everyone.”
These were the good omens the team was clinging to as it pondered a 2-1 series deficit against the Penguins.
Still a long way from playing for the Stanley Cup, Canada’s team is just happy to remain in the conversation.
“It’s a tough trophy to win,” Anderson said. “A lot of things have to go right for you.”