Fans at MacLaren’s bar sat stone-faced as the Pittsburgh Penguins celebrated their win in double overtime against the Ottawa Senators.
The sports bar and pool hall on Ottawa’s Sens Mile was packed with fans wearing red, black and white Thursday night. They cheered and hugged as the Senators’ Mark Stone scored in the second period, tying the game. And when Ryan Dzingel tied it again to put the game into overtime, chants of “Go Sens Go!” could be heard from blocks away.
But when the Penguins’ Chris Kunitz brought the game to a close in the second overtime period, the pub was silent except for announcers’ voices on the television.
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“It’s not happy, it’s not happy,” one fan told Global News before launching into a string of curses.
The Game 7 loss put the Senators out of the playoffs after a hard fight against the Penguins.
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“It was very stressful,” said Ross Arnold, managing editor of the Silver Seven hockey blog.
“Every time there was a lull in play, I reminded myself to breathe.”
Arnold, who watched the game from Calgary, said it was “deflating” to watch the last puck go in the Senators’ net.
“It took a moment for it to sink in. I think it took a moment for everyone. You saw the shot and thought, ‘Wait, where did the puck go?’ There was kind of this moment before they realized it was in the net and then the building started celebrating.”
Many Sens fans took to Twitter to express their disappointment.
https://twitter.com/martycread/status/868086961847902208
But many expressed thanks to the Senators for a great season – one that lasted longer than any other Canadian team’s.
The Senators faced criticism from other teams’ fans all throughout the playoffs, even as they advanced, said Arnold.
“Ottawa can’t sell out the arena. Ottawa is boring. Ottawa is lucky. Ottawa’s just playing injured teams. They’ve had the easiest path through.”
He suspects that being between Toronto and Montreal might have something to do with that, as well as many hockey fans’ dislike of team captain Erik Karlsson. But he’s not sure why Ottawa attracts such hate.
“I don’t know why people were so bothered by the fact that Ottawa is doing well.”
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The morning after the loss, Arnold said he was doing well, all things considered.
The Pittsburgh Penguins will go on to face the Nashville Predators in the Stanley Cup finals.
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