2011 - 12 Ottawa Senators season The 2011 – 12 Ottawa Senators season was the 20th NHL season , ( 19th season of play ) for the Ottawa Senators of the National Hockey League . It was a rebuilding season for the Senators after turning over a lot of playing personnel and hiring a new head coach . Although the Senators were not expected to make the playoffs , the team qualified eighth . The team lost in the first round to the first - place New York Rangers but took the Rangers to a seventh - game . Three Senators were nominated for NHL awards : Captain Daniel Alfredsson for the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy , Erik Karlsson for the James Norris Trophy and Head Coach Paul MacLean for the Jack Adams Award . The Senators hosted the NHL All - Star Game and its festivities . Alfredsson was named captain of one of the teams and five Senators played in the All - Star Game . Team business . On May 19 , 2011 , the Ottawa Senators were awarded the Ottawa " United Way Community Builder of the Year Award " for over $ 60 million in charitable fund - raising in the past ten years , support of youth hockey and the founding of the " Do It For Daron " initiative for mental health in honour of Daron Richardson , the daughter of Ottawa Senators assistant coach Luke Richardson who took her own life in November 2010 . On May 20 , 2011 , the Senators announced the " Rink of Dreams " project to build a outdoor skating rink at Ottawa City Hall . The rink is to cost $ 1 . 25 million , $ 1 million of which would be funded by the Senators Foundation charity . In December 2011 , the Senators officially announced the replacement of the scoreboard at Scotiabank Place . The old scoreboard dated from 1996 , and its replacement had been rumoured in the media since the time of the announcement that the All - Star game would be played in the arena . The new scoreboard , to be supplied by Panasonic , uses four high - definition video screens , plus two LED " rings ' , one above the scoreboards , and one below . While the old scoreboard had video screens , the new screens are much larger in size and have a larger number of pixels per screen . The scoreboard was first used for the December 27 , 2011 game against the Montreal Canadiens . For the game , only the four video screens were in place , and the LED rings were to be operational for the All - Star game . 2012 NHL All - Star Game . The Senators was the host of the 2012 NHL All - Star Game in January 2012 . The Ottawa Convention Centre hosted a Fan Fair of fan activities from the Thursday until Saturday . The Rideau Canal had to close due to mild weather , but the Senators ' new Rink of Dreams was able to be used in its place . Confederation Park was used for ice sculptures and displays . In the annual All - Star Game voting , Senators fans voted four members of the team to the All - Star roster : Daniel Alfredsson , Erik Karlsson , Milan Michalek and Jason Spezza . Karlsson led all players in voting with over 939 , 591 votes cast . Colin Greening was added later by the NHL operations department . Alfredsson was named captain of one team and was able to put the Senators onto his team , except for Greening , who was selected at random for the other All - Star team , coached by former Senator Zdeno Chara . Senators ' fans in attendance at the game were thrilled when Alfredsson scored two consecutive goals in the second period , giving him a standing ovation . Off - season . After firing Cory Clouston at the end of their 2010 - 11 season , the Senators began a search for a new head coach . According to media reports , Bryan Murray interviewed several candidates for the job , including : Kurt Kleinendorst ( coach of the Binghamton Senators ) , Dave Cameron ( coach of the Mississauga St . Michael ' s Majors ) , Craig MacTavish ( former coach of the Edmonton Oilers ) , Paul MacLean , ( assistant coach of the Detroit Red Wings ) and Kirk Muller ( assistant coach of the Montreal Canadiens ) . On June 14 , 2011 , the Senators announced the signing of Paul MacLean to a three - year contract as the new head coach . On June 23 , 2011 , Dave Cameron and Mark Reeds were hired as the assistant coaches . Reeds was the head coach of the Owen Sound Attack , also of the Ontario Hockey League . The Senators unveiled a new third jersey on October 1 , 2011 . The new third jersey replaces the ' SENS ' design third jersey . The new jersey is mostly black , with horizontal red and ' off - white ' stripes in a pattern reminiscent of the original Ottawa Senators jersey of 1926 – 27 . The team will wear the jersey eleven times at home , and once on the road . The eleven corresponds to the number of Stanley Cup championships the original Senators won . Pre - season . On June 22 , 2011 , the Senators announced that they would be playing seven games during the preseason . They will be play three games at home , three games on the road , and one neutral site game . The team will play divisional rivals Toronto , Montreal , and Boston twice each . Meanwhile , the Senators will also play Winnipeg once in Conception Bay South , Newfoundland , as part of the Kraft Hockeyville Celebrations . The game was moved to Mile One Centre by Conception Bay South to maximize the use of arena upgrade dollars for renovations , instead of preparing their arena for the exhibition game . The Senators held a rookie camp in early September . The rookies participated in a rookie tournament in Oshawa , Ontario with rookies of the Chicago Blackhawks , Pittsburgh Penguins and Toronto Maple Leafs . The team won all of its games in the tournament . All members of the rookie camp were invited to the main training camp , which started on September 16 at Scotiabank Place and the Bell Sensplex . Regular season . The Senators opened the season on October 7 , 2011 at Detroit . The Senators finish the season on April 7 , 2012 . 81 of 82 games are televised , either on CBC , RDS , Sportsnet , TSN or TVA . The sole game not to be televised is a visit to the Florida Panthers on February 15 , 2012 . The NHL later organized a video feed available to NHL Centre Ice subscribers in Ottawa for the Panthers game . The Senators had their home opener on October 11 , 2011 against the Minnesota Wild . Since it is the franchise ' s 20th anniversary season , the Senators had special celebrations . With 14 members of the 1992 – 93 team in attendance , Laurie Boschman , the 1992 – 93 team ' s captain , dropped the puck on the ceremonial face - off . The team went on to win the game 4 – 3 via shoot - out . It was head coach Paul MacLean ' s first win as a head coach in the NHL . Nikita Filatov , a 21 - year - old Russian player ( and former first - round pick ) acquired in a trade at the 2011 NHL Entry Draft , had an up and down season between Ottawa and Binghamton before being loaned to HC CSKA Moscow of the Kontinental Hockey League ( KHL ) in December . Filatov will play in Moscow for the rest of the season . Filatov will be a restricted free agent at the end of the season , and Ottawa manager Murray indicated that the club had not given up on Filatov , and would put in at least a qualifying offer at season ' s end . The Senators made a trade in December 2011 for Phoenix Coyotes ' Kyle Turris in exchange for David Rundblad and a draft pick . After Turris arrived in Ottawa , the team won ten of 13 games , and had a nine - game unbeaten streak over the end of December into January . The run pushed the Senators up into a playoff position . On December 17 , the Senators were in tenth position . On January 20 , the Senators were as high as fourth in the Eastern Conference . In February , goaltender Craig Anderson cut the pinky finger on his right hand while preparing food at home . The injury put him out of action as the cut made him unable to hold the goal stick while the injury healed . The Senators made a trade to improve the organizational depth at goaltender , trading for Ben Bishop of the St . Louis Blues . Bishop was playing for the Blues ' AHL affiliate and was due to become an unrestricted free agent . Bishop had won the MVP award at the AHL 2012 All - Star Game and was considered one of the best prospects outside the NHL . Before the trade , the Senators had recalled Robin Lehner from Binghamton and Bishop reported to Binghamton . Although Lehner played well and earned his first NHL shutout , Lehner was sent to Binghamton in early March and Bishop recalled to Ottawa . While Ottawa continued to make points , division leader Boston struggled , and the Senators found winning the division to be possible . On March 16 , the Senators moved past the Bruins into first place in the Northeast Division and second overall in the Eastern Conference . The lead lasted one day , but the Senators qualified for the playoffs , an unexpected development that made head coach MacLean a candidate for coach of the year . Playoffs . The Senators succeeded in making the playoffs after missing them in the 2010 – 11 season , with a 5 – 1 win over the New York Islanders on April 1 , 2012 . " The Hockey News " had predicted that the Senators would finish last in the Eastern Conference and miss the playoffs . Senators vs . Rangers . The Senators qualified in eighth place , drawing the first - place New York Rangers in the first round . Although the Senators won three out of four games during the regular season between the two teams , the " NHL Network " predicted the Rangers will win in five or six games . " ESPN " predicted the Rangers would win in seven games . In the first game , the Rangers scored once in the first , and twice in the second to take a 3 – 0 lead into the third period . In the third , the Rangers scored to make it 4 – 0 before Daniel Alfredsson and Erik Condra scored in the last ten minutes . It was close until the middle of the game . The Rangers were leading 1 – 0 late in the second period and the Senators were pressing for an equalizer . The Rangers took a time - out and from there , scored three times in six minutes ( from the second into the third period ) to build the lead the Senators could not overcome . In the second game , the Senators added two players known for fighting to the roster : Matt Carkner and Zenon Konopka , changes described by coach MacLean as done in response to the Rangers ' Brian Boyle ' s rough treatment of Erik Karlsson . After only two minutes of play , Carkner was ejected from the game for fighting Boyle , who did not want to fight Carkner , and punching him after Boyle went down to the ice . The Rangers ' Brandon Dubinsky jumped into the fight and was ejected for being the third man into a fight . In the second period , the Rangers ' Carl Hagelin elbowed Alfredsson and was ejected . In the game itself , the Rangers took a one - goal lead after one period . The Senators equalized during the match penalty to Hagelin to leave the game tied after two . In the third , Boyle scored to put the Rangers ahead , but Nick Foligno tied the score with four minutes to play . In the overtime , the Senators applied pressure from the start , and Chris Neil scored to win the game for the Senators after only one minute of overtime . For their actions during the game , the NHL later gave Hagelin a three - game suspension , and Carkner a one - game suspension . Alfredsson did not return for the third game , still suffering from a concussion from the Hagelin hit . The first star of the game was the Rangers ' goalie Henrik Lundqvist , who stopped all 39 Senators shots on net for a shutout . The game was scoreless until the third period when the Rangers ' Boyle scored on a backhand after the puck bounced off the back boards directly to him nearly in front of the Senators ' goalie Craig Anderson , who stopped 21 of 22 . It was the only goal of the match . Lundqvist preserved the win with a save in the final minute on Kyle Turris who was alone in front of the Rangers ' goal with the Senators pressing and their goalie pulled for an extra attacker . In game four , it was the Ottawa goalie Anderson ' s turn to save a game . After giving up two power play goals by the Rangers in the first few minutes , he stopped the Rangers the rest of the way . In the second period , the Senators tied the game on goals by Milan Michalek and Sergei Gonchar . No goals were scored leading to the second overtime of the series . In the overtime , the Senators ' Kyle Turris scored his first - ever overtime goal to tie the series after four games , ensuring a game six in Ottawa . Ottawa captain Alfredsson missed another game . It was the first victory at home by the Senators since the 2007 Stanley Cup Final . Game five in New York saw Anderson continue to hold off the Rangers , stopping all of their shots for a 2 – 0 shutout victory . Junior call up Mark Stone made an impression , setting up the winning goal of the game by Spezza in the first period . Spezza added an empty net goal to seal the victory . It was Stone ' s NHL debut . Game six was played in Ottawa with the Senators having a chance to eliminate the Rangers . The Senators scored the first goal of the game in the first period on a power play . With Anderson continuing to hold off the Rangers , it appeared the Senators might have scored enough . It all changed in the second period with three goals by the Rangers , including a pair on the power play , to put the Rangers ahead 3 – 1 . Anderson ' s shutout streak of the Rangers ended at 145 minutes , 27 seconds . In the third , Senators ' coach Paul MacLean benched stars Spezza and Alfredsson in a ploy to turn their games around , but it was ineffective . Alfredsson himself showed a rare temper outburst on the bench , due to his frustration . The Senators scored a goal on a disputed play in the last minute , but it was too little , too late . The game was the NHL debut for Senators prospect Jakob Silfverberg , who had just finished playing in the Swedish Elitserien playoffs . The series shifted to New York for the deciding seventh game . Like game six , the deciding goals were scored in the second period . The Rangers scored a pair of goals to go ahead 2 – 0 , while Alfredsson replied on the power play for the Senators . The third period was scoreless . Alfredsson was considered to be the best player for the Senators in the game , and there was considerable speculation after the game that it might be the last game of his NHL career . Schedule and results . Playoffs . Notes : Player statistics . Source : Ottawa Senators . Source : NHL . Goaltending . Source : NHL . Denotes player spent time with another team before joining Senators . Stats reflect time with Senators only . Traded mid - season . Awards / Milestones . Records . The Senators set a new franchise record for the fastest two goals scored on October 8 , 2011 in a 6 – 5 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs at the Air Canada Centre . The first goal was scored by Jason Spezza at 15 : 36 of the third period , while the second goal was scored eight seconds later by Daniel Alfredsson . The previous record was nine seconds , set the previous season . On February 22 , 2012 , Erik Karlsson set a new franchise record for assists by a defenceman in a single season by tallying two assists , bringing his total to 47 , in a 5 – 2 victory over the Washington Capitals . The previous record was held by Norm MacIver , who tallied 46 assists during the modern franchise ' s inaugural season in 1992 – 1993 . On February 26 , 2012 , Erik Karlsson set a new franchise record for points by a defenceman in a single season by tallying two assists , bringing his points total to 65 , in a 5 – 2 victory over the New York Islanders . The previous record was held by Norm MacIver , who tallied 63 points during the modern franchise ' s inaugural season in 1992 – 1993 . Final roster . < small > Updated April 23 , 2012 . < br > Draft picks . The 2011 NHL Entry Draft was held in St . Paul , Minnesota . The Senators picked sixth overall with their own draft pick , and 21st overall with the first - round pick of the Nashville Predators , acquired in exchange for a 2011 trade of Mike Fisher . After picking 21st , the Senators traded their 35th and 48th overall picks ( the later pick acquired from the Chicago Blackhawks in exchange for Chris Campoli ) to the Detroit Red Wings in exchange for the 24th overall pick . This marked the first time in franchise history that the Senators picked three times in the first round .