from Chris Johnston of Sportsnet,
Guy Boucher remembers. “It still hurts, I’ll be honest with you,” he says 2,188 days after the fact. “That’s the non-excitement part of it.”
Game 7. Sixty minutes, and perhaps a few more, to decide who plays for the Stanley Cup.
There’s magic built into that equation because every single person with a stake in the outcome has literally spent time in a driveway or basement dreaming about a chance like this, and now it’s at hand. But … there is also a but.
“I look back, you know, it was the Boston Bruins back then,” said Boucher, the Ottawa Senators coach, of his previous dance across a tight-rope with no safety net. “It was a tough game. It was 0-0 with seven minutes left in the game. It was quite a game and a lot of pressure. What I remember most is the excitement of an opportunity that very few people get in their lives, and I’m part of that.
“I can’t be blessed more than that.”
That’s how the Senators felt coming into Pittsburgh for one last shot at the defending champs. Blessed. They have had a crazy season – one marked by personal torment and collective triumph – and it’s all on the line Thursday at PPG Paints Arena.
added 9:22pm, from Kevin Allen of USA TODAY,
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