The Ottawa Senators completed their garbage day, exit interviews, and media scrums a couple of months earlier than everyone had hoped this season.

After a valiant climb from last place in the division in January to a playoff spot in April, Sens Nation was dreaming of a long postseason run and celebrations on Sens Mile.

After a humbling 4-0 sweep at the hands of the Carolina Hurricanes, it became clear that there were still lessons to be learned before this group was going to be a threat to win hockey's Holy Grail.

To their credit, the Senators got themselves into a playoff position after Game 80 by overtaking the Boston Bruins for wildcard one, but the point left on the table in Game 81 against New Jersey may have cost the Senators a more favourable first-round match-up.

     1. Did the Senators take steps forward after qualifying for the playoffs in 2025?

It would be easy to say no, having been swept this year and having lost in six the previous year.

However, aside from the obvious 99 points versus 97 the year before, most of the statistical information points to an upward trend.

In fact, were it not for unstable goaltending up until Linus Ullmark’s return in late January, the Senators most likely would have been top three in the Atlantic Division.

The Senators made their biggest strides at five-on-five, particularly defensively. Travis Green and his staff have implemented a 200-foot game and earned the group’s buy-in. The lack of structure that characterized the DJ Smith era appears to be a thing of the past.

The problem facing the Senators was that their first-round opponent had made these same strides years ago.

Green even said in his post-game interview after Game 4 that he felt the Senators played better in the playoffs this season than they did against Toronto.

This also checks out, as goals saved above expected had the Hurricanes and Senators ranked first and second after four games of the first round. Conversely, goals scored above expected over those four games ranked them in reverse, with the Senators last and the Hurricanes second last.

Like the Sens, the Canes also had goaltending issues throughout the year. Freddie Andersen and Linus Ullmark had similar regular seasons. But both brought their A games in round one, as did their penalty killing units, and the series became a lesson in how to get a lead and suffocate the opponent’s time and space.

This may have been a sweep, and the better team may have won, but as Rod Brind'Amour said last year after being swept by the Panthers, it was not a 4-0 series. The margin of victory was thin.

The Senators faced a much different opponent in round one this season. Carolina is a team playing in its eighth consecutive playoff with the same head coach and several core players such as Sebastian Aho, Andrei Svechnikov, Jordan Staal, and Jacob Slavin being there the entire run.

The Canes have learned from their painful lessons, just as the Senators need to learn from theirs. Ottawa made some huge strides this year… as a regular-season team.

   2. What has to happen to continue moving forward?

Now that the Senators have shown that they can get to the dance, how do they make inroads once they get there?

If the Senators learned anything from this season, it should be at the goaltending position. Most people, myself included, felt that Leevi Meriläinen was ready to be a full-time NHL goalie and that the Senators' crease was going to be their strong point this season.

But no contingency plan was put in place, and when it became clear that Meriläinen needed more development, there was no rainy-day plan to get through the rough patch.