History repeats itself for Sens ahead of Game 6 On the four-year anniversary of Daniel Alfredsson's infamous "Probably not" remark when asked about his team's chances to rebound after a blowout loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins in the playoffs, Ian Mendes writes that Game 6 on Tuesday gives the Sens the chance to flip the script this time.

It was four years ago today that Daniel Alfredsson uttered the most memorable two-word phrase in Ottawa Senators history.

“Probably not.”

That was the captain’s response when asked if his team could come back to win against the Pittsburgh Penguins after suffering a lopsided 7-3 loss on May 22, 2013 that pushed the Senators to the brink of elimination. Alfredsson’s controversial comment turned out to be prophetic, as the Senators lost the next game 6-2 to the Penguins and were subsequently eliminated from the Stanley Cup playoffs.

And now, history has a funny way of repeating itself.

On Sunday, the Senators once again surrendered seven goals in playoff game to the Penguins and find themselves staring elimination square in the face.

Their head coach, Guy Boucher, is now the one coming under some fire for his post-game comments following the blowout loss in Pittsburgh.

“We know they’re a better team. Everybody knows that on the planet,” Boucher said in his post-game press conference on Sunday evening. “They’re the Stanley Cup champions. They’re the best team in the league. That’s no secret.”

Boucher’s comment had a feint ring of Alfredsson’s tone, which has a polarizing effect amongst the fanbase. Some enjoy the blunt honesty, while others perceive the comment to be tantamount to surrendering.

But in reality, Boucher has been playing the underdog card throughout these playoffs and his post-game comments on Sunday are merely the latest example of that trend. The Senators head coach used that storyline effectively during the Rangers series, going as far as saying his players were just happy they didn’t get swept following a Game 1 victory over New York.

He’s been dodgier with the underdog card during the Pittsburgh series, never overtly using the phrase during the first four games. But after the lopsided loss on Sunday afternoon, Boucher pulled the card from his back pocket and slapped it squarely in the middle of the table. The head coach with the master’s degree in sports psychology is always calculated with his comments. He may be emotional, but his comments to the media are always well thought out and deliberate.

The Senators' world feels like it’s caving in following consecutive losses in which the club was outclassed by the Penguins on the ice and outscored 10-2 on the scoreboard. In many ways, though, perhaps the sense of déjà vu the Senators should be getting is not from their previous meeting with the Penguins in 2013. Instead, they should be having flashbacks from the Rangers series a couple of weeks ago.

In Games 3 and 4 against New York, the Senators looked completely vacant in losing consecutive contests in which they were outscored 8-2. In their Game 4 loss at Madison Square Garden, the Senators pulled a shaky Craig Anderson and rested Erik Karlsson for the entire third period because the game was completely out of hand – a foreshadowing of what Boucher would once again do on Sunday afternoon in Pittsburgh during the blowout loss.

After losing consecutive games to the Rangers, many Senators fans were hitting the panic button. The club looked completely flat and lost. New York then opened up Game 5 by scoring two quick goals – which meant the Rangers had outscored the Senators 10-2 over the span of two games and five minutes.

And then suddenly, the Senators' missing offence sprung to life. They got goals from Mark Stone, Mike Hoffman and a late tying goal from Derick Brassard against Henrik Lundqvist to force overtime. Kyle Turris then played the role of hero with an overtime winner and just like that, the Senators were back in the driver’s seat by taking a 3-2 series lead.

Being outscored 10-2 went out the window.

Pulling Craig Anderson the previous game suddenly didn’t matter.

And Erik Karlsson’s leg looked a lot better with a little bit more rest.

The Senators find themselves in a position they’ve been in before. All Guy Boucher has to do is point to their bounce-back effort against the Rangers a couple of weeks ago.

But this has been a resilient team all season long. This is a team that never lost more than two games in a row in regulation time all season long. In December, they lost consecutive games to Los Angeles and Anaheim by a combined score of 9-2. Boucher came back home and put them through a memorable practice, in which he went into several expletive-laced tirades about the system. The Senators responded by going 4-0-1 in their next five games.

In early February, the Senators were embarrassed in consecutive shutout losses to the Sabres and Blues, in which they were outscored 10-0. Boucher responded by having his staff members put together obstacle courses and fun team-building activities instead of having another gruelling practice. Once again, his team responded by winning four of its next five games.

Tuesday’s Game 6 will mark the 100th game for the 2016-17 Ottawa Senators, including the regular season and playoffs. If you haven’t learned that this team is resilient by now, then you really haven’t been paying attention.

So if the question is: Are the Senators done after suffering back-to-back losses to the Penguins?

The answer is probably not.