Sens at Land’s End

I am now thinking it’s quite possible the Sens won’t make the playoffs. This is what would have to happen for them to miss the cut:

• New York Rangers win one of their remaining four games.
• Philadelphia Flyers win one of their remaining three games.
• Boston Bruins win two of their remaining four games (one of which is against Ottawa), or win one and lose one in overtime or a shootout.
• Washington Capitals win all three of their remaining games.
• Ottawa Senators lose all three of their remaining games.

I don’t see all that as being terribly unlikely. They could actually still win a game and end up missing out too I think. They have set up a truly horrific end to the season for themselves: if they lose to Montreal on Tuesday, the Habs will clinch the Northeast division title while they watch; on Thursday they play Toronto and if they lose that they will not only lose the season series to Toronto but the obnoxious Leafs fans will be able to gloat to Sens fans forever about that time they helped take the Sens out of the playoffs; on Friday they play Boston, and if they lose it’s entirely possible they’ll be watching the Bruins either pass them in the standings or clinch a playoff spot. And if they do manage to lose all three games, then they’ll likely have to wait until Washington’s last game on Saturday to find out whether they’re making the playoffs at all. Any way you look at it, it’s pretty bad.

If they do in fact miss the playoffs, the players will maybe want to leave Ottawa for the summer like … very early Sunday morning. Sticking around risks being run out of the city by a mob brandishing whatever the federal government employee equivalent of a pitchfork is.