Erik Karlsson battles through Rangers players as he chases the puck in the second period of Game 1.Jana Chytilova/Freestyle Photo/Getty Images
It was the ideal weather forecast for the opening of the Eastern Conference semi-final.
Dense fog to start the day, slow clearing building eventually to the hottest day, so far, of Ottawa's spring 2017.
The Ottawa Senators won an extremely tight 2-1 victory over the New York Rangers in a game that didn't catch much fire until the end of the second period. But once it did …
Both teams had been on an extended break since their Round 1 victories, the Rangers over the Montreal Canadiens and the Senators over the Bruins. Time lent itself to a seemingly endless string of potential story lines, some of them just a tad foggy themselves: the best skater Sweden has, Ottawa captain Erik Karlsson, against Sweden's best goaltender, Henrik Lundqvist. Two centres traded for each other last summer, the Rangers Mika Zibanejad against Ottawa's Derick Brassard. And, as Ottawa head coach Guy Boucher seemed so keen to have it, Ottawa the "underdog" against the potentially overwhelming Rangers.
Boucher called it a "soap opera," but there was one storyline that could not be disputed: the reluctance of Ottawa fans to warm to this team that now, along with the Edmonton Oilers, represents but one of two Canadian teams in the postseason.
In Edmonton, you can't find a ticket. The local Ottawa Metro publication found a ticket online for the Oilers first game at $275 (U.S.), whereas tickets could be had online for the Senators opener at $57.50, with the price dropping through the day.
Ottawa is a curious entity, a bureaucratic town cautious to embrace. It is often as if they feel that teams, like governments, fall. Lukewarm most of the season to Boucher's dictatorial, dull style, fans seemed not to believe the playoffs were a possibility and certainly not extra rounds.
At the moment, the Senators' playoff motto – "All in, Tous ensemble" – sounds like a plea for ticket buyers. Whether this opening night victory changes that may be shown by the turnout for Saturday afternoon's Game 2.
Attendance this night was only 16,744, nearly 2,500 below capacity.
"We're going to have to have our best game," Round 1 overtime hero Clarke MacArthur vowed.
And for the opening period, certainly, it seemed as if the Senators had brought that game to the Canadian Tire Centre. They outshot the Rangers 21-12 (43-35 by night's end) and had multiple scoring opportunities. In Ottawa's first power-play, Lundqvist was simply brilliant, turning away point-blank opportunities by Mike Hoffman and Mark Stone.
Ottawa's Craig Anderson, handling the net at the other end of the ice, was little tested, but did stop a clear breakaway by Ryan McDonagh late in the period and, earlier, had his goalpost turn away a good shot by New York's Michael Grabner.
The Rangers' Rick Nash had predicted the style of play Ottawa would resort to – "trap it up in the neutral zone" – and, indeed, the game slowed to a crawl in the second period. It took a New York power play, on a tripping penalty given to Ottawa defenceman Cody Ceci. A lobbed point shot by defenceman McDonagh sailed into the net through a screen, Anderson never getting a fair look at the puck.
Lundqvist continued his stellar play into the second, making a critical right pad save on Stalberg coming in untouched.
Again, the game settled back into trapping, the crowd silently growing impatient with the Senators. Finally, with barely two minutes left in the period, Ottawa was given a power play courtesy of a holding penalty to Rangers defenceman Brady Skjei.
With the Senators pressing in the New York end, centre Kyle Turris got away a hard wrist shot from the left circle that Lundqvist deflected with his left shoulder. The puck popped into the air and landed directly in front of hard-luck Ottawa forward Ryan Dzingel who, this time, couldn't possibly miss.
The game was tied 1-1, the crowd, for the first time since the Canadian anthem, alive and screaming. The temperature inside and outside was challenging a new high for the year.
Lundqvist's brilliant play in net continued into the third, with a fired-up Senators team abandoning its trapping and instead attacking. Dzingel was sent in alone and fired hard shot that Lundqvist merely reached out and plucked out of the air as if it were a floating feather.
Not to be out done, Anderson soon followed up with similar glove dramatics when Rangers defenceman Brendan Smith moved in from the point and found himself alone with the puck in front of the Ottawa net.
It seemed only a near-impossible goal would settle matters and, no surprise, this was supplied with only four minutes left in the game by Karlsson.
The slick Ottawa captain slipped down the boards while the Rangers were trapped with sloppy play in their own end. The puck came to him in what seemed an impossible spot to score from near the icing line and a quick wrist shot somehow squeezed through what seemed a throng of bodies.
Story lines intact: Karlsson versus Lundqvist. And the "underdogs" were, at least for the moment, top dog in this best-of-seven series.
"People are writing us off," Ottawa defenceman Marc Methot said. "We almost enjoy that."
"I love proving people wrong."