WOOO-HOOO!!!That's it, folks! We did it! We beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 3-0 tonight to take the series 4 games to 1...YABBA-DABBA-DOOEY!!
Honestly, I don't know if I've ever seen the Sens play as well as they did tonight. Pittsburgh spent much of the first 10 minutes on the powerplay, with two 5-on-3's, and Emery was solid in nets. After that, the Sens shut the door and really dominated them. It seemed the Penguins even had trouble getting into the Sens' zone for most of the game. They were so strong defensively, and I was
extremely impressed!! They made most of those Penguins look like the little kids that many of them are! All of our goals came in the second period, with Heatley getting one on the power play, and Kelly and Vermette notching the others. Mike Comrie, one of the darlings of this series, also had a glorious opportunity, and I think almost everyone thought he had scored, but replays showed it ringing off the post.
I also think Wade Redden played his best game of the series, which was a huge relief to me. I've been waiting for a sign for the past two weeks to show me that Wade's OK and can play out of his funk, and tonight, I think he made a big step towards accomplishing that.
The fans at the Bank tonight were loud and proud, and it was awesome to hear the chanting and cheering coming through my TV. It's great to see everyone BE RED and waving their pom-poms enthusiastically! For us here at the Young house, one of the highlights was seeing our neighbours JP and Troy and Troy's girlfriend Steph on TV at the end of the game - they were all decked out in Sens gear and holding a sign that said "Stanley's Cup Belongs In Canada". Of course, it would have been awesome to be in the stands tonight, but because I seem to be a Senator Jinx, I've resolved not to bother with tickets again this post-season. We've been having our own little party here at home though!!
So now that we've done away with Sid the Kid and his band of little Penguins, it looks like it'll probably be the New Jersey Devils or the New York Rangers (or a slight possibility of it being the Islanders) in the second round. It was predicted tonight that the next round won't start until next Wednesday, so we've all got a few days to relax, breathe, and look forward to another round of exciting playoff hockey!!
I can't wait!!
GO SENS GO!!
