Game Summary: Game 78 - The Show Must Go On!

by Bonk's Mullet and Capital Gains

Congratulations on making it this far. Last night's game was torture, so I thought I'd lighten the mood with something a little different tonight.

We're at game 78 and your Ottawa Senators are sitting in 24th place, but as they say on Broadway, "the show must go on even if you just lost 7-4 to a geographical rival the night before..." or something like that! And how fitting that the Senators are on Broadway tonight to take on the New York Rangers.

Will the Sens lie down on Broadway? Stay tuned to find out in our special Broadway-themed game summary!

Henrik "the King" Lundqvist gets the start for New York, while Robin "the total maniac" Lehner gets the start for Ottawa. With Bobby Ryan out of the lineup for the rest of the year with a sports hernia, Mark Stone continues his audition in the top six next to Turris and MacArthur.

Meanwhile, Bobby Ryan already nailed his audition at  Jersey Boys.

1st Period

16:35 - Jason Spezza does his patented non-shot, out-wait the goalie, and throw it into the slot move. The puck caroms off a defender to Hemsky, who is faced with a relatively open net, but he's robbed by the King and Iron.

10:24 - Clarke MacArthur drops the puck back to Kyle Turris who patiently skates through the slot, and has room over Lundqvist up high, but unlike the Fiddler, the puck is not Roofed.

9:26 - Mika Zibanejad lays a hit that frees the puck up for Michalek, who springs Hemsky on a partial breakway. Hemsky holds on to the puck for five hundred twenty five thousand six hundred minutes and tries to skate the puck right into Lundqvist as he crashes over top of him.

8:35 - Erik Condra delivers a perfect saucer pass to J.G. Pageau, who gets stuffed by Lundqvist in tight. Erik Condra continues with his relentless pursuit to find the scoresheet...and love.

Phantom of the Condera

7:15 - Mark Stone takes a feed from MacArthur on a 3-on-2 and unleashes a Wicked wrister top-corner. 1-0 Sens.

"Somewhere...under the crossbar."

2:47 - Phillips tries to glove down a puck popped up the air, but bobbles it directly to Rick Nash, giving him a breakaway. Robin Lehner stops him.

2:37 - Before I can even come up with a Broadway reference for the previous play, Zibanejad gets free in the slot off an offensive zone faceoff and he beats Lundqvist high glove. 2-0 Sens.

I dreamed a dream of pucks gone by...Lundqvist.

2nd Period

14:42 - Martin St. Louis' breakaway attempt is stifled by the stick of Erik Karlsson. I've never heard of it, but in my research I found a play called "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying" and that couldn't possibly be about anyone other than Erik Karlsson.

14:35 - With Derick Brassard deep in the crease, Zuccarrello tips in a John Moore shot top corner. Despite protestation from Robin Lehner, there's no call on the play and the Rangers pull the game within 2-1.

12:20 - Previously wary about taking a 3 goal lead, the Senators decide it's safe to score again. An Erik Karlsson shot from the point results in a scramble in front, where Spezza digs out a Grease-y goal. 3-1 Sens

"You're 3-1 that I want."

8:21 - One of the Staals (Jeff maybe?), gets a weak one past Lehner's glove, who may have been screened by Cody Ceci. Upon further review, it was tipped by Mats Zuccarello again. 3-2. I haven't been this upset since they cancelled Cats.

0:07 - Brian Boyle and Erik Karlsson get tied up in the crease, resulting in Lehner giving Boyle a blocker punch to the back. You'd think Boyle would have already learned to stay away from Karlsson.

Before we go to the third, I recommend seeing the musical Once. It's lovely. Okay, let's get back to face-punching.

3rd Period

10:52 - On a 3-on-2, Zuccarello gifts Brassard with a wide open net, but he fans on the shot. Defensive hero Jason Spezza clears the puck lying in the crease.

5:50 - Ottawa spends about 5 minutes running around in their defensive end with their heads cut off. Here's ABBA with their heads cut off.

Okay that was poorly integrated but Mamma Mia is this picture is hilarious or what?

5:23 - Karlsson tries to skate the puck out of his own end and turns the puck over, resulting in a scramble in the crease. Karlsson and Dominic Moore get in a bit of a scrap. This makes it two games in a row that Karlsson's gotten into a tussle, which isn't surprising, given that Karlsson can't be too happy playing meaningless games with his team out of it down the stretch. He's got an ego to protect and he's going to stand up for himself.

This contrasts with Karlsson's usual method of protecting his ego with hairspray.

3:11 - Chris Neil hits Marc Staal with what I, the objective observer, deem to be a clean shoulder-on-shoulder hit. Both Zuccarello and Pouliot disapprove of Neil's actions, causing a 10 man hug session before Marc Staal comes in to defend himself. During the madness, Zack Smith coddles Zuccarello like a newborn baby, while Chris Neil slowly unfolds a serviette and tucks it into the front of his jersey, waiting for a scrap. Unfortunately for Chris, nobody obliges, but the moral here is that Neil and Smith prove to be more annoying than door-to-door missionaries.

The Book of MacLean says "Thou shalt play Chris Neil in the final two minutes with a lead"

1:23 - Mike Hoffman unleashes an enormous clapper alone in the slot, but he gets Statue of Liberty glove saved by Lundqvist.

0:03 - Zuccarello centers the puck to Stepan but Robin Lehner stuffs him with the pad to win the game, winning the goaltending battle against Lundqvist. A new King is born.

Naaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa na Lehnaaaaaaaaaaaa

Closing Thoughts

I severely overestimated my knowledge of Broadway plays before I took on this task. But the Sens won 3-2.

More importantly, the Leafs eliminated themselves from playoff contention tonight! Let's dance.