Richards dishes on the secret to overcoming a 3-0 deficit

By foxsports
Published

The Senators already passed the first hurdle of coming back from a 3-0 series deficit. When the media asked Erik Karlsson if the Sens could manage the comeback, he said it was definitely possible, which is much better than in 2013, when Daniel Alfredsson famously responded to the same question by saying, "probably not."

But where do they go from here? ESPN consulted the hockey expert in 3-0 deficits, Los Angeles Kings center Mike Richards. The veteran was part of two teams to pull off the 3-0 comeback: the 2010 Flyers and last season's Stanley Cup champion LA Kings. 

"For Ottawa, they went on quite the run to end the regular season, so that shouldn’t seem like too much of a battle winning four games," Richards told ESPN. "Four in a row shouldn’t seem as steep to them as it does to most other teams. Their run was pretty incredible at the end of the year."

Richards also preached confidence, and he argued that, if not for a bounce here and there, the series could easily be 2-1 in Ottawa's favor. Ottawa, Richards said, just needs to start with that first win.

The Senators seemed to echo that mindset.

"You’ve got to know that you are ultimately in control of your own destiny when it comes to playing games," Ottawa defenseman Marc Methot said to ESPN. "You’re going to give yourself the best opportunity if you are prepared to play and you want to win the game. We just look at it as one game and work your way up from there."

(h/t ESPN)