Canada’s Spalding captures gold at snowboard slopestyle World Cup

Canadian Cameron Spalding captured the men’s crown at a snowboard slopestyle World Cup event Saturday.

OTTAWA — Hockey at its best produces lasting memories. Saturday’s lead-off Hockey Day in Canada game — an Ottawa Senators 6-5 shootout win over the Boston Bruins — encapsulated everything we love about hockey. There were beautiful goals, crazy saves, an unbelievable comeback and even some fisticuffs. 

As head coach Travis Green said before talking to the media, “Well, that was exciting.”

It was hockey at its purest and best.

As the newcomer to the NHL scene, Senators goaltender Leevi Merilainen explained, “probably the greatest comeback I’ve ever been a part of; such a crazy game, high emotions.”

It’s been a long time since the Senators and Bruins were in games with such high tension and playoff-like intensity. 

“There’s been some pretty awesome atmospheres,” said captain Brady Tkachuk. “But I don’t know, this one just felt different.”

Heading into the game, the difference between Boston and Ottawa in the standings was one point. It was up for grabs. 

From the jump, the Senators were all over the Bruins. Less than two minutes in, Adam Gaudette banged a rebound home to open the scoring after great cycling from Tim Stutzle and Claude Giroux. Minutes later, Stutzle put on a clinic, dangling around multiple defenders to extend the Senators’ lead to 2-0.

Ottawa seemed ready to beat up an aging bear. 

Ahead of the game, Tkachuk said it could set the tone for a week of Eastern Conference games. 

He was right. 

Look how much the Senators’ victory changed their playoff chances.

The last time Ottawa played meaningful games against Boston, it was in the first round of the 2017 playoffs where the Senators vanquished the Bruins in six games en route to an Eastern Conference Final run. 

You go back even further — to 2015 — when the two division rivals squared up in a consequential regular-season battle for a playoff spot when one goaltender came out of nowhere to lead the Sens to the post-season: Andrew “The Hamburglar” Hammond. Present day, Merilainen is trying to do the same.

The Senators prevailed in 2015 and 2017 and on Saturday they were able to do it again.

One remembers.

In the first period, Merilainen’s penchant for jaw-dropping saves continued, when he made a ridiculous diving glove save on Matthew Poitras to keep the score 2-0. His teammates were impressed. 

“A couple of the guys just gave the signal to each other,” said Josh Norris with a wry smile. “He’s electric, man.”

However, the Bruins used their winning pedigree — something the Senators have been trying to cultivate — to come back.

Charlie Coyle tussled with Norris, leading to a questionable roughing penalty on Norris that swung the tide of the game. Boston would score on the man-advantage but as they celebrated, Elias Lindholm took an unsportsmanlike penalty. 

Nick Jensen then left the game briefly after taking a monster hit in the first, leading to a miscommunication on the back end between Nick Cousins and Stutzle. In the confusion, David Pastrnak managed to laser a shot past Merilainen, tying the game 2-2 late in the first period.

It hurt in multiple ways. 

Ottawa had thrown 37 shot attempts compared to 14 for Boston in the first period, while generating nine high-danger chances to Boston’s two, according to Natural Stat Trick.

Yet the score was 2-2 at the end of the first.

When you dig deep in the numbers, the Senators and Bruins aren’t on the same playing field. Every piece of analytics and traditional stats tells you the Senators are a better team. They have a better goal differential, goals for, goals against, power play, penalty kill, shooting and save percentage … Are you tired yet?

The advanced analytics are exactly the same. However, only one point separated the two in the standings.

Why? Well, winning know-how.

It looked like the Big, Bad Bruins mentality was winning over a young team early in the second when Ottawa let Morgan Geekie in all alone to complete the mini-comeback and take a 3-2 lead for Boston. From up two goals, they were now down one.

All hell broke loose after that. 

The Sens and Bruins proved they had no love lost. They had been pushing and shoving for about five minutes of real time. In the middle of it were Cousins and Brad Marchand, which led to a Senators power play. That’s why general manager Steve Staios brought in Cousins: To get underneath the skin of guys like Marchand. 

It changed the dynamic of the game. 

On the power play, Norris’ excellent tip in front tied things up again. 

Minutes later, Zack Ostapchuk went after former Senator Mark Kastelic. It got wild.

Merilainen then gave up a softball to John Beecher and the Bruins headed into the third with a 4-3 lead.

But the Senators never lost their composure. In past seasons, they were experts in faux comebacks. They brought that into the beginning of this season when old habits came to the forefront in at least four games against top teams. Each time they got the game to within one in the dying seconds but couldn’t tie.

Not today. After a Tkachuk fight with David Wotherspoon led to jawing in the penalty box, the intensity ratcheted up. Moments later, Boston capitalized to go up 5-3 when Vinni Lettieri took advantage of a Thomas Chabot failed clearing attempt and ensuing scramble, all but sealing a win. 

This Senators team found a way when previous iterations couldn’t. 

“I think we’re just staying more even keel. We’re not too emotional to bench,” said Norris about the team’s resolve.

“But that’s probably the biggest change. I think just the game is so emotional. But, we don’t have to waste our energy on being so emotional.”

Green smartly pulled the goaltender with four minutes. A scramble for the puck found its way to Jensen, who launched a shot past Jeremy Swayman to cut the lead to 5-4 with 3:13 left. 

Chaos ensued for the final three minutes. Boston had chances to put away the game, but Jake Sanderson blocked multiple shots, including one on Pastrnak with a minute left.

Norris, with great awareness, stopped a goalie goal, then scored one of his own to tie it in the dying seconds.

The crowd erupted but Norris didn’t.

“Not much,” he said when asked what he was thinking in that moment. “I was so out of breath, I was dying.” 

The overtime was just as electric as regulation. Coyle rang it off the bar, as Merilainen stood tall while Stutzle and Tkachuk had great opportunities, but nobody could hit the twine. 

“Had to thank the crossbar there, for the help,” said Merilainen.

In the shootout, Stutzle’s wonderful forehand deke that out-waited Swayman was the winner.

Whew. What an experience.

Ottawa is now in a playoff spot for the first time this late in a season since 2017. The Senators have become a good team, a resilient one that can push the old heads in the Eastern Conference around. As for the Senators’ next steps, Aristotle said it best: “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”

Sign me up for another tilt between these two teams on Thursday. 

Adam’s Apples: Green says Linus Ullmark will be travelling with the Senators on their upcoming road trip. However, it’s still unclear if he will play and likely won’t Sunday against New Jersey. Regardless, Ullmark was all smiles in the doldrums of the Canadian Tire Centre after his Senators conquered his former team.