Senators playoff push takes hit with loss to Panthers

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It's the month that's supposed to go out like a lamb, not the team.

Following an extraordinary March in which the Ottawa Senators moved from oblivion to the final playoff spot – largely thanks to the spectacular goaltending of Andrew (Hamburglar) Hammond – they spent the month's final few days quietly lining up for slaughter.

First it was the New York Rangers crushing the Senators 5-1 Thursday and chasing Hammond from the net with his first regular time loss in 16 games. Then, on Saturday, with starting goaltender Craig Anderson back from an injured hand, they blew a 2-0 lead in Toronto over the Maple Leafs and fell 4-3 in overtime.

Sunday it was back home against the Florida Panthers, with the NHL's senior citizen, Jaromir Jagr, scoring twice in a 4-2 Ottawa loss in which the Senators seemed unfocused and, at times, listless.

"The last three games we didn't show up," discouraged captain Erik Karlsson said. "It looks like we don't deserve [it]."

The Ottawa-Florida match was but one in a wild weekend of scoreboard watching for Ottawa fans. On Friday the Senators and Boston Bruins were tied at 85 points each in the battle for the eighth and final playoff spot. Saturday afternoon Boston defeated the New York Rangers to move ahead by two points. Ottawa picked up a point in Toronto but fell further behind Sunday when Boston defeated Carolina Hurricanes 2-1 in overtime.

To make matters worse, the Florida win brought the Panthers to within a point of Ottawa; they are now as much in the chase as the Senators.

"It was a Game 7 for us," said Jagr, the 43-year-old star of the game. "Now we just have to get ready for the next Game 7."

After a goalless first period, young Jonathan Huberdeau hit Jagr with a pass during a Florida power play.

and Jagr used his size to bull past Ottawa defenceman Marc Methot and sweep a low shot past Anderson.

Jagr scored the eventual winner in the third period when he swept down the left wing, faked a shot, held and went behind the net to score on a wraparound that found nothing but space behind Anderson.

"Last time I did that was 1994," he joked. "It was probably because I went to church before the game – I surprised myself."

For Jagr, it marked the 15th goal of a year split between the New Jersey Devils and the Panthers and his 720th goal of his remarkable career. With a promise this week that he will play until the age of 50, it is only a matter of time before Jagr catches Marcel Dionne, at 731 goals to become the fourth all-time scorer in NHL history. After that, he will be in pursuit of only Brett Hull, Gordie Howe and Wayne Gretzky.

Another Florida power play during the second period had produced Florida's second goal when Jussi Jokinen, alone in the slot, ripped a Dave Bolland pass past Anderson.

Frustration with Ottawa penalties caused several of the 19,045 fans to toss hamburgers out onto the ice and hundreds loudly chanted "Ref, you suck!" on several occasions, but the Senators had no one to blame but themselves. If the penalties were bad, so, too, was their puckhandling and overall play. They looked tired and disorganized.

Karlsson managed a goal, his 20th of the season, on an Ottawa power play early in the third period when he ripped a shot from the blueline past a screened Dan Ellis.

And late in the third period Mike Hoffman dashed down the right boards and threw a backhand pass across Ellis's crease that Jean-Gabriel Pageau was able to clip into the net.

Given one more opportunity on the power play with time running out, Ottawa head coach Dave Cameron made a decision to pull Anderson in favour of an extra attacker, thereby creating a six-on-four Ottawa advantage. It backfired, however, when Bolland was able to jump on a loose puck and fire it from his own blueline down ice into the empty Ottawa net.

It was Bolland's fifth goal of the year and Florida's first shorthanded goal of the season.

"We were a little slow out of the gate," Cameron conceded.

A slow start and bad penalties, he said, contributed to the loss, but also a poor game by top lines that need to score if the Senators are going to win at this time of year.

"Our focus has been one game at a time," Cameron said. "That's not going to change. We've had a lot of Game 7s for a long time now."

On Tuesday, Ottawa visits Detroit Red Wings and Florida is in Boston to meet the Bruins. Thursday it's Boston at Detroit and Tampa Bay Lightning in Ottawa.

On Tuesday, the Senators visit Detroit Red Wings and Florida is in Boston to meet the Bruins. Thursday it's Boston at Detroit and the Tampa Bay Lightning in Ottawa.

"I'm glad we won this game," Jagr said, "because it makes the next game meaningful for us. We have to play every game like it's a playoff game."

Same goes for Boston Bruins and the Ottawa Senators.

Show up, or it's over.