OTTAWA -- Try as he might, Derick Brassard could not change the storyline for Thursday's Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinal between the Ottawa Senators and New York Rangers at Canadian Tire Centre.
"It's not about me and Mika," the Senators center said after Wednesday's practice, referring to Rangers center Mika Zibanejad -- the player he was traded to Ottawa for last summer. "There are other guys on the teams. It's about the 23 guys on both rosters."
True enough, but they were the scoring leaders of their respective squads in the first round, with Brassard racking up eight points (two goals) in Ottawa's six-game elimination of the Boston Bruins and Zibanejad picking up four points (one goal, an overtime winner) in New York's six-game bouncing of the Montreal Canadiens.