OTTAWA — The only red Ottawa Senators flags raised Friday surrounded the club’s attendance.
Less than 24 hours after the Senators failed to sellout the Canadian Tire Centre with approximately 1,800 empty seats for Game 1 of the Round 2 series against the New York Rangers on Thursday night, even the players were being asked about the issue Friday as they met with the media.
Empty seats have been an issue for a large part of the season, but the crowd of 16,744 set off alarm bells across the country because it’s not very often a Canadian building isn’t full during the playoffs and, as a result, the market is under the microscope.