Senators in finals for first time, 3-2
Daniel Alfredsson’s goal at 9:32 of overtime lifted Ottawa past Buffalo.
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Leave it to Daniel Alfredsson — the Ottawa Senators’ captain and longest serving player — to score the biggest goal in team history.
With one clutch shot at 9:32 of overtime, Alfredsson ended a decade’s worth of frustration by sending the Senators to the Stanley Cup finals for the first time.
His goal sealed a 3-2 win over the top-seeded Buffalo Sabres on Saturday, allowing Ottawa to win the Eastern Conference finals in five games.
No one needed to remind Alfredsson that he was the only one to have played in Ottawa’s 94 playoff games over 10 consecutive years; or that it took that long for the Senators to finally shed their reputation as postseason underachievers.
“It’s kind of surreal right now,” Alfredsson said. “We worked very hard for this, but you never take anything for granted. ... We respect Buffalo as a team. I think they’ve had a hell of a year. But I think they ran into us at the wrong time.”
Best postseason mark
The Senators improved to an NHL best 12-3 this postseason and have yet to lose two games in any series after eliminating New Jersey and Pittsburgh in five games each in the first two rounds.
Sweetest of all, perhaps, Ottawa had been eliminated by Buffalo in its previous three playoff meetings, including last year’s second round.
“What else can you say about Alfie?” forward Jason Spezza said. “He’s been our leader the whole time. It’s only fitting he scores that winner.”
It came on what began as an innocent-looking play, accepting Dany Heatley’s pass on the fly and breaking into the Sabres zone on a 1-on-3 rush. Using Buffalo defenseman Brian Campbell as a screen, Alfredsson had his shot tip off the defender’s stick and sneak just inside the right post.
Ottawa will now wait to face Anaheim or Detroit, and will start that series on the road. The Western final series is tied at 2, with Game 5 at Detroit on Sunday.
Second straight year out
The Presidents’ Trophy-winning Sabres were knocked out in the semifinals for the second straight year, after they significantly raised expectations in Buffalo.
“It’s tough to swallow,” Sabres co-captain Daniel Briere said. “I really believed it was our year. We just couldn’t get it going.”
Sabres goalie Ryan Miller stood at the bench afterward, shaking his head and rubbing his eyes
“It surprised the heck out of me,” Miller said, referring to Alfredsson’s goal. “He kind of hung me out. I didn’t get a real good look and obviously, I came up missing it.”
Another loser was the NHL, which lost its national U.S. over-the-air TV audience when NBC dropped its coverage of the game to show the Preakness Stakes just before overtime. The end of Ottawa’s victory was broadcast instead on Versus, the league’s main cable rightsholder that reaches far fewer homes than NBC.