The Ottawa Senators had the greatest comeback in NHL history and started a pretty good comeback in the 1st round series against Montréal. Down 1-0 for most of Game 6, the Senators seemed alive right up until Max Pacioretty's empty netter with about a second.
A quick whistle and a borderline high stick on the only goal in the first 59 minutes, and we might be previewing a Game 7.
The 2-0 shutout was the only time the Senators were shutout this season. Craig Anderson stopped 138 of 142 shots since taking over for Andrew Hammond aka the Hamburglar.
How close was this series? Both teams scored 12 goals. 4 of the 6 games were decided by 1 goal, 2 of those in overtime. Game 6 was a 1-goal margin until 1 second remaining.
Both teams struggled on the power play, but both teams also played tremendous defense.
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Both weekend games aired on NBCSN in the States. Likely not a coincidence that anthems aired both nights and we got slightly better intermission commentary. We still can't get a full break of analysis from the game we are watching.
We didn't get that many anthems in the 1st round, but we did get at least one anthem in every Canadian city in the first round.
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The saddest day of the playoffs on the U.S. side is when we lose access to the Canadian TV feeds. We may still get CBC and Rogers feeds on the NHL Network matinee broadcasts, but the live feeds are gone.
Given 2 all-Canadian series, we had an alarming low 10 of 16 games with Canadian feeds. 3 of the 6 games in the Eastern series were CBC feeds while 3 of the 4 Jets games were Sportsnet feeds. Jim Hughson and Craig Simpson were only heard on 4 of the 6 games out west.
We didn't get matinee rebroadcasts on the first weekend, but other than that, we did get Canadian feeds in the afternoon. We will monitor to see whether that same pattern happens in the 2nd round.
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Game 3 of the Habs-Sens series on April 19 drew 835,000 viewers on NBCSN. This was the highest number of any program on NBCSN from April 13-19.
An all-Canadian matchup drew better than Rangers-Penguins by 238,000 viewers. Chicago drew the second-highest ratings but with 183,000 fewer viewers.
NBCSN will find a lame excuse to not carry Ottawa next season, but ratings won't be the real reason.
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The Canadiens will take on either Detroit or Tampa Bay and have home-ice advantage regardless. CBC Sports and NBCSN have Game 7 on Wednesday. Won't take long to know the setup for the division finals shortly after Game 7 in Tampa.
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NBC has one game in the 2nd round. There is less than zero chance a Canadian team will be involved. We are not sad or glad at this news.
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