The Ottawa Senators have literally lost the recipe for success and, with the defeats piling up, the morale of the troops is taking a hit despite the changes announced by the organization earlier this week.
So far, the dismissal of head coach DJ Smith, replaced on an interim basis by Jacques Martin, has not yielded the expected results. For a second consecutive meeting, Thursday, the “Sens” lost a lead during the second half of the clash. Defeated 6 to 4 by the Colorado Avalanche after having a two-goal lead, they have escaped their last six duels and are in eighth place in the Atlantic section of the National Hockey League.
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Following a horrible trip in the West which ended with no victory in five outings, Brady Tkachuk and his teammates remain in search of solutions and hope to build on concrete elements: to do this, they will have to defeat the Pittsburgh Penguins, Saturday, at the Canadian Tire Centre.
“It’s very difficult to spot the positive. The feeling is pretty shitty and I don’t think I’ve felt this bad in my entire life. “It’s not fun at all right now,” Tkachuk told NHL.com. At the end of the day, it’s about myself as a leader. I need to do a better job. Individually, I’m not there, I’m not playing the right way. I feel like it’s boring me. It’s up to me to sort this out. I am the leader, the one in charge, and we have to do better.”
The effort is there, but…
In Martin’s eyes, the dividends of the hard work will be visible sooner or later. The 71-year-old head instructor tries to encourage himself despite the club’s playoff qualification odds dwindling. This is 16 points behind a place in the playoffs.
“I told the team that the guys are disappointed not to have won, just like me. However, what matters to me is that we have progressed compared to our previous match [un échec de 4 à 3 aux mains des Coyotes de l’Arizona, mardi]“, he considered.
“I think we gave a better effort, we did a better job of protecting the red line and not letting the opponent get into our territory as easily. In the middle period, we became more solid as the match progressed. It’s a good sign.”
The Penguins-Senateurs duel will be broadcast on the TVA Sports channel.