Ottawa Senators goaltending sensation Andrew Hammond’s proverbial 15 minutes of fame may be over. “The Hamburglar” has slumped to a .899 save percentage in his last five games and is now banged up, although he says he can still play.
Fellow Ottawa netminder Craig Anderson has blown leads in key games including a 4-3 overtime debacle at the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday night.
Senatorial Fall
The Sens are now three points behind the Boston Bruins for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference and will be facing a high pressure game at the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday, followed by tough home games against the Tampa Bay Lightning and Washington Capitals.
Ottawa was playing with house money during their recent run as both they and Hammond were exceeding realistic metrics. Unfortunately, the Sens are coming back down to earth at the worst possible time.
Ottawa has shown good balanced scoring but their defensive depth remains a problem that often leaves Hammond and Anderson exposed.
The loss at Toronto may prove to be fatal as the Leafs rallied for three third period goals by Tyler Bozak to send the game into overtime where they won it on an Eric Brewer goal. To blow a lead to a team that checked out two months ago is not the stuff that a playoff team is made of.
The Cat’s Meow
Ottawa suffered a costly 4-2 home loss to the Florida Panthers on Sunday night as Panthers right wing Jaromir Jagr had an inspiring performance with two goals to spark the win that kept Florida in the Eastern Conference race.
Florida trails Boston by four points and is at the Bruins Tuesday night in their biggest game in years. The Panthers then return home to host the Carolina Panthers, Tampa Bay Lightning, Montreal Canadiens, and Boston Bruins in a true last stand at home.
Florida has an intriguing mix of veterans such as Jagr, defenseman Willie Mitchell, and goaltender Roberto Luongo to go with young superstars of tomorrow such as defenseman Aaron Ekblad.
The Panthers have become a great story and team to follow and their playoff push has caught some attention in South Florida. A playoff round would do much to restore the roar of this franchise that has wallowed in misery for most of the past 19 years that followed an upset run to the 1996 Eastern Conference championship.
Don’t Poke the Bear
Every time that the Boston Bruins are written off they come out of hibernation and prove that they are still a playoff contender with heart and savvy.
The Bruins were as good as done after a six game losing streak but rallied to run the New York Rangers out of the building in a 4-2 home win on Saturday. It was an ugly return to goal for New York’s King Henrik Lundqvist.
The Bruins were on fumes Sunday for a gutsy 2-1 road playoff win at the Carolina Hurricanes on Sunday.
Boston is undeniably aging with a thin blue line and lack of secondary scoring. But anyone that claims that they have tuned out on head coach Claude Julien was proven to be sadly mistaken this past weekend. Boston still has heart; the question is whether or not that will be enough.
What the Bruins still do have is goaltender Tuukka Rask, who has a .932 save percentage for the month of March with three shutouts. While this is a team that often seems to be running on fumes, it is also a team that nobody wants anything to do with come playoff time.
Rangers Goaltending Controversy Brews
Lundqvist was shelled for four goals in the first 26 minutes of the Rangers loss at Boston on Saturday and that was followed by Cam Talbot being lit up in a 5-2 home loss against the Washington Capitals on Sunday.
Although everyone is claiming that there will be no problem if Lundqvist takes a while to get into gear don’t be surprised to hear calls for Talbot to take over by Rangers fans that can taste another Stanley Cup run. Lundqvist is a notoriously slow starter and his lengthy layoff plays into that, which will only serve to increase the pressure.
