OTTAWA — Watching the Senators’ tiny miracle on home ice against the Edmonton Oilers on Sunday evening was to imagine the possibilities.

At times run-and-gun, more often bolt-the-door-and-pray (from an Ottawa perspective), the Senators survived for the improbable 5-3 win on a fine bit of goaltending by Joonas Korpisalo (with back-to-back weekend wins) and a lot of puck luck in their own zone. Kudos as well to a Senators power play that struck with such quick precision — seven seconds, 22 seconds and nine seconds into three of their man advantage opportunities — it seemed like a fair imitation of the Oilers with Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Zach Hyman. 

Players don’t fool easily. Power play aside, Ottawa’s top players recognized that the ice was tilted for much of the night as Edmonton outshot the Sens 36-16. It felt as though the Oilers had the puck on remote control for the entire third period, until a late power-play goal by Jakob Chychrun, his second of the game, and an empty netter by Parker Kelly put the visitors away. 

“They were kind of all over us,” said Senators winger Drake Batherson, who scored a beauty on a power play and set up both Chychrun goals. 

“I said to the boys, the ice looks pretty good down in their end if we can get down there.”

As you can see, Batherson has verbal talents to go with his hockey skill. 

They got “down there” long enough for Mathieu Joseph to draw a holding penalty. And the resulting power play took care of the rest. 

 “They’re elite players, credit to the guys for keeping it out, they had us hemmed in a bit and they’re going to do that with the guys they’ve got over there,” Batherson said, referencing the team’s reverence for the Oilers.

“We were excited to play the game,” he added. “Playing against those players, you get up for that challenge. We were ready to go and we got a few bounces.”

Watching a motivated Senators team hang on against one of Canada’s best hopes in the post-season, it raised the question: When does Ottawa get to become the legitimate Cup contender that Edmonton is today?

For woe-is-me Senators fans bemoaning their seventh consecutive spring without playoff hockey, Oilers fans have a message: Hold our beer. 

Edmonton went through an 11-year drought before the team finally struck Oil in 2017, which happens to be the last season Ottawa had a playoff run. Difficult as it can be to look past the local area, the National Capital Region doesn’t have a corner on the virtue of patience. 

Though the Senators have never had the luxury of drafting McDavid first overall (2015), there are some similarities between these organizations — things that transpired over the past decade to perhaps provide a blueprint for new Senators general Steve Staios, who just left the Oilers to take on this opportunity. 

Building through the draft?

The Oilers did that with such first-round picks as McDavid, Draisaitl, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Darnell Nurse. 

Without a pre-eminent superstar like McDavid, the Senators nevertheless have a solid young core with the likes of draftees Brady Tkachuk, Tim Stützle, Jake Sanderson, Drake Batherson, Josh Norris and Thomas Chabot. 

With enough offensive talent to skate with anyone over the past decade, Edmonton has battled to create the defensive corps and goaltender needed by a true contender. 

There may still be tweaks to do, but this group is pretty darned good. 

Trades that delivered defenceman Mattias Ekholm and forwards Warren Foegele and Evander Kane have been vital. 

Signing Hyman, the former Maple Leaf checking winger, turned out to be one of the best UFA decisions of the past decade. Hyman blessed Sunday’s sellout crowd with his 50th goal of the season.

Depth at the deadline? The Oilers took care of that by adding Corey Perry, Adam Henrique and Sam Carrick. 

The defence is much better than it was, if a bit vulnerable at times. 

As longtime Oilers writer Mark Spector told me, the goaltending got a lot better when the play in front of goalies Stuart Skinner and Calvin Pickard improved. 

The goalies who have come and gone from Ottawa over the past five years can relate. 

One day the Senators, currently one of the youngest teams in the NHL, will be in a position to add like the Oilers, now one of the oldest. 

“We have some good players,” said Senators interim head coach Jacques Martin, when I asked about Ottawa’s program compared to the length of time it took to rebuild the Oilers. 

“I think we need more depth, I think that’s one area we have to look at.”

Martin went on to praise the play on Sunday of some of his core players, including Stützle, Tkachuk and especially Batherson. 

“I think Drake’s been playing very well,” Martin added. “I think back since I got here, he’s playing with so much more confidence with the puck but also comes back hard and is doing a much better job defensively.

“On defence, (Jake) Sanderson (has been excellent) and tonight we got a great game out of Chychrun. You need contributions from different people.”

Watching from the press box, with his left arm in a brace, was another of the Senators’ core forwards, Josh Norris. 

Martin is bang on. The Senators need to add depth and experience through free agency and trades. They will get a top draft choice this spring out of class that is loaded with defencemen, a key area of need for Ottawa. 

They will need to add a goaltender to go with Korpisalo, here on a long-term deal. 

“We know how hard it is to win in the league, how consistent you have to play to get in the playoffs,” Stützle said, to a question on the patience required of a rebuild. “You need almost a hundred points. We’ve just got to keep believing in this group, in this core we have. We need to be way better, that’s our goal. Everybody’s going to work really hard this summer and hopefully achieve our goal.”

Lots of work to do. But the Senators will get there. A decade ago, Edmonton fans were wondering when their long wait would be over. Now they’re saving up their spare change to buy playoff tickets. 

Ring of Honour for Dr. Donald Chow

Before the game, Senators team doctor Donald Chow was welcomed to centre ice with his children, Laura and Andre, to drop the puck on the occasion of Dr. Chow’s induction into the Senators Ring of Honour. He is the franchise’s third inductee. 

In a video taped earlier and played during the first intermission, Dr. Chow thanked his late wife, Angela, for her support as well as many in the Senators organization including fellow longtime team Dr. Mark Aubry. 

Both doctors have been with the Senators from the beginning. 

Two things about Dr. Chow. One, his persistent kindness and care as a person and physician. Dozens of present and former Senators players vouched for that. 

Two, his love of Tesla cars and Harley Davidson motorcycles. 

When I travelled with the Senators, if it was Dr. Chow’s turn to accompany the team on the charter and he had a chance to visit a Tesla showroom in San Jose, say, he would proudly wear his Tesla clothing and visit the showroom to see the latest models. In the move toward electric vehicles, Dr. Chow was way ahead of the game. 

And though he nearly died in a motorcycle crash in 2010 and then got into another motorcycle accident in 2013, Dr. Chow still rides his beloved bike. 

When I told him I rode Triumph motorcycles years ago (many … years ago), Dr. Chow said flatly, “come around to the loading dock (at the CTC) and take my Harley out for a spin sometime.”

That’s Donald Chow. Generous to a fault. 

A former goaltender from Thunder Bay (he still ‘dons’ the pads in oldtimer hockey), Dr. Chow said he got into sports medicine when he realized he didn’t stop enough pucks to be a pro. 

Ottawa and the Senators were the beneficiaries of that move. 

The Ottawa Senators have set their sights on emulating the success of the Edmonton Oilers in the NHL. The Oilers, a team with a rich history of winning Stanley Cups and producing Hall of Fame players, have long been a model for other teams to follow.

The Senators, who have struggled in recent years, are looking to turn their fortunes around and become a contender in the league once again. They have seen the success that the Oilers have had in recent years, with young stars like Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl leading the way.

One of the key aspects of the Oilers’ success that the Senators are looking to replicate is their ability to draft and develop young talent. The Oilers have built their team around players like McDavid and Draisaitl, who were both high draft picks and have developed into elite players in the league.

The Senators have also been focusing on building a strong core of young players through the draft, with players like Brady Tkachuk and Thomas Chabot leading the way. They are hoping that these young players can develop into stars like McDavid and Draisaitl and help lead the team to success.

Another aspect of the Oilers’ success that the Senators are looking to emulate is their ability to make smart trades and free agent signings. The Oilers have made key acquisitions over the years that have helped bolster their roster and make them a competitive team.

The Senators have been active in the trade market in recent years, making moves to acquire key players like Matt Murray and Evgenii Dadonov. They are hoping that these acquisitions, along with their strong core of young players, can help propel them to success in the future.

Overall, the Senators are looking to follow in the footsteps of the Oilers and build a competitive team that can contend for a Stanley Cup. By focusing on drafting and developing young talent, making smart trades and signings, and building a strong core of players, they believe they can achieve the same level of success as their counterparts in Edmonton.