You would’ve been forgiven if you’d expect this game to be a slaughter. The winless Ottawa Senators were facing the Tampa Bay Lightning, the reigning President’s Trophy winners, the best team in the league in decades (four games in April notwithstanding), and the team that had blown out the Maple Leafs 7-3 earlier this week. Instead, we were treated to a high-tempo game that Ottawa mostly controlled, and allowed Vladislav Namestnikov to play late-game hero with two goals against his old team.
The first period was scoreless, but really shouldn’t have been.