If the Ottawa Senators thought they were back on the road to victory, after two consecutive wins, the last game had the effect of a cold shower.
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The “Sens” collapsed against the Los Angeles Kings, who saved themselves with a 5-2 victory on Tuesday night. Goalkeeper Cam Talbot was also kicked out of the game after giving in five times on the visitors’ first 14 shots.
Senators captain Brady Tkachuk didn’t walk away from the media.
“We just weren’t ready to play,” Tkachuk told the Ottawa Sun. There is no other explanation and there are no excuses. This is unacceptable. It’s the whole team’s fault that we weren’t ready.”
Smith takes the blame
For his part, the head coach, DJ Smith, took full responsibility for the poor performance of his team in front of 13,549 fans.
“We were just flat,” said Smith. We gave way too many chances and we didn’t put enough pressure on our opponents. It’s my fault. Our preparation for the match starts with me, as a coach, and that is certainly unacceptable. My job is to make sure these guys are ready to play.”
“Maybe we should have had a skating session in the morning,” he added. We played with a lot of softness. The match completely escaped us in the first half and it was difficult to come back afterwards.
Ottawa isn’t having the season hoped for so far with a 10-14-1 record, the worst in the Atlantic Division.
Recall that the Senators had made several acquisitions this summer, in the hope of reaching the playoffs, including adding Claude Giroux and Alex DeBrincat. The latter has also hit the target only six times in 25 games this year, after a season of 41 goals last year.
The Senators will try to get up Thursday night in Dallas against the Stars.