“Parlez-vous francais?” asked the Montreal-bound Paul MacLean (rhetorically) after his pesky Ottawa Senators came away from the NHL’s season-ender at TD Garden on a high note. “To be the seventh seed is an improvement for our team.”
You could tell the Sens’ head coach wasn’t just happy to finish the season on a high note — fending off a Bruins comeback in Boston — but that he was happy to have drawn the Habs, robbing (at least for now) fans of a Leafs-Habs showdown.
Had the Senators lost Sunday’s makeup contest against the Boston Bruins in regulation, they would have repeated as the Eastern Conference’s eighth seed and have drawn the scary Pittsburgh Penguins — great for those who love reading Cooke/Karlsson articles, but not an ideal way for the Sens to ease into the postseason.
Had the Sens lost in overtime or a shootout to the Bruins, they’d earn themselves four to seven more games against their bitter rival. Again, no one really wants Boston early. Even if you’re able to defeat them, they’ll wear you out like Beyonce does heels.
So 20-year-old Jean-Gabriel Pageau’s game-winner with less than four minutes in regular-season regulation Sunday was a massive one for the Ottawa native.
Coming in just his ninth NHL game, Pageau’s converted rebound gave the Sens a late 3-2 lead they would not relinquish and their most ideal playoff match-up available. In their four games head-to-head this season, the Sens outscored the Habs by a total of 10-8, going 2-1-1 against their Northeast foe.
“We talked mostly about wanting to finish better than last year,” captain Daniel Alfredsson told Sportsnet’s Ian Mendes after the game. “It feels really good. We improved on last year, and that’s what we wanted.”
Read between the lines, kids: Given their options, the Sens wanted the Habs. And thanks to Pageau’s goal, they got ’em.