Senators fans make statement as playoffs return to Ottawa

Entering Game 3, the Senators' quest was to pour every ounce of resolve and passion they had to get back into their series against the Maple Leafs.

By night’s end, however, all anyone could do was marvel at how Ottawa fans took their building back. 

Joy and pain have never been so tightly linked. In sports, love and hate are bedfellows. 

A quick recap, for those with the stomach for it ... overtime begins, tentatively at first. No-name defenceman Simon Benoit steps onto the ice (the first ominous sign) for Toronto. There’s a faceoff in the Senators' zone. On their feet, fans are in full-throated roar,  chanting “Go! Sens! Go!” rally towels forming a white swirl in the air, when Ottawa loses the draw (again), Benoit winds, fires and the puck is high in the net past a screened Linus Ullmark.

Has there ever been a harsher way to break a heart or silence a collective voice? First, a groan. Then the quiet of death. For many, even up in the press box, the reaction was – what just happened? 

How did that go in?

Asked what he saw, Ullmark replied, “I didn’t see anything.”

Join the club.

And so another Battle of Ontario game came down to a single shot.

“One shot,” said Senators veteran winger Claude Giroux, his voice a whisper in the home dressing room. “One shot, and that shot had eyes.”

What a shot. And oh, what a night. What a way for the Senators to fall into a 3-0 series hole in the Battle of Ontario, with overtime losses in Game 2 and 3. With Benoit, his name now added to the pantheon of unlikely playoff heroes, playing a primary role in both OT goals. 

You wanted playoff hockey back, Ottawa. You got it, replete with all of its agony and ecstasy. 

Yes, there was ecstasy, much of it centered around the fact that the Senators were able to have a home game against Toronto without the blue-and-white masses of fans taking over the Canadian Tire Centre (CTC). 

Hours before the 7 p.m. ET start of Game 3, it was clear the Senators' corporate policy of keeping tickets in the hands of Senators fans was working. Locals poured into pre-game party zones and tailgates in such numbers that they easily overwhelmed the trickle of Leaf jerseys entering the building.

During the warmup, the first Senators chants pierced the air, and it struck the building veterans that this time they weren't countered or drowned out by Leafs chants.

In Toronto, fans had screamed “Brady sucks!” at Senators captain Brady Tkachuk. But here, they rallied around their big guy, yelling “Bra-dy! Bra-dy!” in a declaration of ownership of the CTC, the same rink where franchise icon Daniel Alfredsson would get booed by invading Leaf armies. 

By game’s end, Tkachuk was visibly injured, limping and had emptied that massive tank of his. He scored the 2-2 goal that forced overtime. 

Yet, even the agony of defeat couldn’t wipe the smile off Tkachuk's face as he spoke of the atmosphere in the building, which gave him chills. 

For Senators fans, the ending was tragic, but the journey was a trip. 

The last time the Sens hosted the Leafs, the balance of fans in the stands was at least 80 per cent in support of the visitors. A quick explainer on how it came to be that Ottawa fans willingly surrendered this battleground. 

At first, it was because sharing their building with so many fans of the sworn enemy was just annoying. Fights would break out in the stands and outside the building, and Senators fans would say they wished the Leafs faithful could at least behave as well as Canadiens fans when they are in the Capital. 

Then, as premium pricing became a thing, reselling Leafs and Habs tickets became a way to help pay for tickets to other games. 

It was a win-win. Avoid hearing your own team get booed on home ice, plus make a profit. 

But it created a monster. Instead of 50-50 or 60-40 crowds, it was getting closer to 90 per cent Toronto fans at the CTC. Downright embarrassing. 

As the stars began to align for the first Battle of Ontario series in more than 20 years, the Senators announced a proactive measure to ensure that extra tickets got into the hands of its season ticket holders, with the proviso that they couldn’t sell them to Toronto fans. 

This week, they took the unusual step of partnering with super fan Kevin Lee, who brokered the sale of several hundred tickets that came up for sale at the last minute. Lee, well-known in fan circles, was entrusted with the task of keeping even the last gasp of available tickets for Ottawa interests.

I can’t express the joy on the faces of Senators fans, the visible pride of the community as the game unfolded. 

Some were more brazen than others. One fan wielded a print-out of Ridly Greig, a Sens villain in Toronto, taking that infamous slapshot into an empty Leafs net. Last year’s talking point. 

Others started up a chant of “Matthews!  - balding!” To poke fun at the Leafs' captain. 

On the 400 level, a trio of youngsters – perhaps eight or nine years old – saw a couple of adults wearing Leafs gear walking down the hallway during the first intermission and booed them lustily as they crossed paths.

The Leafs fans laughed.  “Alright, alright,” they said to the kids, admiring their flex on home turf.

Meet the next generation of flag-waving Battlers of Ontario. 

Where this goes is anyone’s guess. Will there be a carryover to next season when the Sens host the Leafs in the regular season? That will require a big uptick in season ticket sales, as well as a commitment from fans to refrain from profiting on resales to Leafers. 

But first, there is a playoff series to complete. 

Tkachuk, who went to school at Boston University, pointed to the Netflix documentary on the Boston Red Sox's monumental comeback against the New York Yankees in 2004.

Ironically, it was No. 34 David Ortiz who led that Beantown comeback. A kid growing up in Arizona named Auston Matthews adored "Big Papi" to the point that Matthews is now nicknamed “Papi” and wears No. 34 in his honour.

That would be something, pulling a Big Papi against Toronto’s Papi.

All they can manage for now is a reset, for fans and players, going into Game 4 at the CTC Saturday. 

With real sudden death looming in the air.