EHE Stanley Cup Champions 16-17

So it happened, the Ottawa Senators have become the EHE Stanley Cup Champions!!  Defying all odds, going against one of the very best the league had to offer, in the Colorado Avalanche, the Senators were able to not only win the cup but sweep the Avs at the same time!

It was an absolute shocker that had most GMs around the league wondering what happened.

GM Mat Fargas of the Pittsburgh Penguins was stunned, saying “That Avs team is STACKED too. Very impressive Jameson, well done!”

The always outspoken Nashville Predators GM Eric Wolf blurted out “A freakin sweep of Colorado?! That would've been my last prediction of the cup final. Congrats Jameson!”

GM Kevin Lacy of the Carolina Hurricanes, who never shies away from speaking his mind, exclaimed “I'm stunned. Congratulations, Jameson!”

But who could have said it better than long time rival, Cisco Valle of the Detroit Red Wings “I guess you did ok Jameson lol, congrats bud”

The list just goes from there, as most couldn’t believe their eyes.  The Colorado Avalanche, who placed 2^nd in the entire league with 121 pts, 12 more pts than 3^rd place, a huge Cup favourite playing great hockey, fell 4 straight to the Sens.

 Sven Henry of the Anaheim Ducks made this puntastic observation. “These playoffs make no Sens. Congrats Jameson!”

Colorado just had an overwhelming attack, scoring 65 goals in 22 games (2.95 goals/game).  But what happened to them, happened to every team the Senators faced, they got shutdown offensively. The Avs only scored 5 goals in the 4 game sweep, scoring 1.25 goals/game, a significant drop from their first 18 games (which they scored at a 3.33 goals/game pace).  While the Senators only let 40 goals in 20 games (2 goals against/game), and 6 of them happened in the first game with Brian Elliot in net. 

Elliot who had a spectacular end to the season, help carry the Sens into the playoffs with a record of 10-1-1 starting Feb 20^th, entered the playoffs as the #1, but that quickly ended in the first game, letting 4 goals on 19 shots through a period and a half.  So in trotted Corey Crawford, who the playoffs in the past two years have not been kind too, as he sported over 3 GAA and under .9 SV% in 8 playoff games.  History plus Elliot’s performance was a huge reason why Elliot seemed to be the #1 goalie for the playoffs, but did Crawford ever make amends.  In 20 playoff games, starting all but the first, Crawford shined as the best player in the playoffs.  He sported a record of 16-4 with a 1.61 GAA and a .940 SV% to go with 3 playoff shutouts.  He had 3 shutouts all year in 51 games.  Absolutely phenomenal numbers he put up, so good in fact that he was the easy choice for the Conn Smyth trophy.

Crawford wasn’t the only star for the Senators, as they were led in points by Evgeny Malkin, 22 pts.  Probably the surprise of the playoffs, and the Stanley Cup series, Michael Frolik, who scored the Cup clinching goal, had 3 goals and 4 assists in the finals, and 9 goals (team leading) and 19 pts in the playoffs.  An absolutely huge performance from a guy that only had 39 pts on the season, and most of it on the top line with JVR and Malkin after the Sens traded away Jiri Hudler. 

Other huge performances include JVR with 17 pts, Marcus Johansson with 14 pts, Tomas Plekanec and Danny Dekeyser with 12 pts and Yandle and Zetterberg with 11 pts. Zdeno Chara, though, really stood out here.  A guy who started the season looking slow and long in the tooth, really bounced back.  At one point he was over a -20, but finished the year with 37 pts and a -9.  In the playoffs, he took his game back to the classic dominating Chara we have known and loved.  He had 14 pts, a +11 playing over 26 minutes/game.  He, as well as the other Dmen, who all had great playoff runs, really shut down the offensive and didn’t let Crawford get overwhelmed with too many high scoring opportunities. 

For a team that barely made the playoffs, they sure dominated in the playoffs.  And it is a good thing too, because over the next two years, they will lose a large chunk of this roster, and it is up to GM Fletcher to keep this going.

When Fletcher drafted this team 3 years ago, he thought this team would have 3-4 years of strong cup contention, with a lot of work afterwards, and it looks like he is right.  They have made the playoffs 3 straight years, even though this year was the first year they got out of the first round.  Last year, after winning the President’s trophy, it looked like that was the year for them, but they got swept 4 straight games by the Washington Capitals.  This year, the Boston Bruins, who were the President’s Trophy winner, got beat pretty handily by a team that just squeaked into the playoffs at the very end, the Pittsburgh Penguins.  Even the Senators had to go 21-5-4 in their final 30 games to make the playoffs by a slim margin.

What this tells you is, in the playoffs, anything can happen, and those powerhouses in the regular season, end up struggling in the playoffs.  Do not give up on your team too soon, ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE! (This message is brought to you by Kevin Garnett)