The Ottawa Senators find themselves in a precarious position after having dropped both games in their opening round Stanley Cup Playoffs series against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Following a 6-2 defeat at the hands of the Leafs in Game 1, the Senators rallied to knot the score at 2-2 after falling behind by a pair of goals in Game 2.
Unfortunately, their comeback wouldn’t be complete as Leafs forward Max Domi tallied earlier in overtime, securing the win for the Leafs for a two-games-to-none series lead.
Senators Fans Despondent After Game 2 Loss
Understandably, Senators fans haven’t enjoyed the Battle of Ontario so far.
One Senators fan targeted the poor performance of Drake Batherson, saying, “Batherson played a horrible game today horrible decision making by him.”
Another fan kept it short and simple, saying, “You can’t keep tormenting me like this.”
This fan had a concise message for his team, saying, “Too much puck watching on the Domi goal. His head was down cutting into the middle. It’s the fckn playoffs. Take the man ffs.”
Yet another fan recognized who the better team was, saying, “As a senators fan, we didn’t deserve to win this game. Leafs played harder. Back home for game 3.”
Another short and simple message from a Senators fan read, “Im not mad just disappointed.”
Finally, this fan targeted Linus Ullmark for his criticism, saying, “Ullmark always chokes in the playoffs, doesn’t matter what team he plays for.”
Senators Coach Travis Green Refuses to Panic
If you think that the Senators are feeling panicked, think again.
Head coach Travis Green acknowledged that while there was disappointment in the loss, his team as a whole isn’t pushing the panic button.
“A lot of our guys haven’t played a lot of playoff hockey, and haven’t lost a game in that way, either,” said coach Travis Green. “We talked about that quickly. I liked the way we played. It was a big step for our group.
“There is no reason to panic. We played two road games, and we probably deserved a better fate tonight. That’s playoff hockey.”
Meanwhile, defenseman Thomas Chabot pointed to the fact that his team mounted a comeback effort as a key positive to take with them into the next game.
“We didn’t give up, and we played our game,” said alternate captain Thomas Chabot. “We didn’t give them a whole lot, probably the last 40 minutes of the game, and we were in their zone on top of them, which is exactly the way we want to play.
The Senators and Maple Leafs will continue their series starting with Game 3 at Canadian Tire Centre in Kanata, Ontario on Thursday night.