Gimme a break with that dramatic shit. SOGs were 31-31 at the end of the day. Sens dominated first period, Panthers settled it in the 2nd and then cranked it up in the third but came up short in the end. You do realize that:
1. There's two teams on the ice. Panthers are the defending champs and steamrolled through the east last year. Did you expect them to just roll over and quit after the first period? They cranked up their forecheck and were firing on all cylinders, Ottawa held the fort and sure, there was that one shift where they were hemmed in their zone but Ullmark made key saves, which brings me to my second point:
2. Goalies are a part of the team. You think the Panthers didn't get elite goaltending and key saves from Bob last year? Every team will have breakdowns, it's inevitable, every team will "fight for survival" at some point, the difference is elite teams have elite goalies who bail them out when it happens. Simple as that. Last year's team 100% would have collapsed in the third and lost the game last night, this year we have a vezina caliber Goalie who can make saves to bail out the D when breakdowns happen. Dunno why you're putting a negative spin on that.