Young Senators learning life isn’t easy in the NHL

The Ottawa Senators’ young players are finding out that life in the NHL isn’t an easy road. Coach Guy Boucher noted after the club’s 3-1 loss to the Nashville Predators on Tuesday night that the young players are experiencing what the NHL is all about. While winger Brady Tkachuk had a couple of golden opportunities on the power play in Nashville, he has now been held pointless in seven straight games. Winger Drake Batherson is pointless in six games and defenceman Maxime Lajoie has an assist in his past six games. Boucher said at this point of the season the players trying to establish themselves as full-time NHLers will find the level of play is even more difficult than at the start of the season. “Young guys, they’ll push and they’ll give you everything they’ve got, but come Christmastime, that’s when they start to feel the NHL,” said Boucher, whose Senators have the Detroit Red Wings up next on Friday night at the Little Caesars Arena. “Once you get to Christmas, a lot of the college guys have played an entire season already in a very compressed (amount of time). That’s different and then a young junior coming in, playing with men, by Christmas is starting to feel the playing with men.” But Boucher is trying to help them find solutions so they don’t get frustrated. This year is about making progress and trying to find the right balance. “That’s normal and our job is to get them to push because that’s how you learn and that’s how you’re able to sustain your NHL shifts after that and what you need to do for the future,” Boucher said.

“Right now, everything is being handled the right way, but it’s a process. We’re going through it and we’re doing a lot of things the right way. Those players are receptive with how they work, how they want to learn and how they progress, but it’s the NHL and it’s a grind.”

Boucher noted that, with injuries to key veteran Senators, the young players are getting experience with opportunities they may not have otherwise received. Winger Mikkel Boedker has been impressed with what the club’s top prospects have brought.

“It’s only going to get harder. That’s something that we know, but it’s something they haven’t experienced yet,” Boedker said. “Every game from now on, until the rest of the way, is going to get increasingly tougher. That’s something as veterans we have to lay out for them, but they’ve got to experience it for themselves.” But it’s a big challenge.

“It becomes every night and it becomes a grind because you play the star players every night,” Boedker added. The top players “just continually become better and better throughout the year. That’s what makes the star players in this league.

“We have a leadership group that’s really, really good. Mark Stone is an incredible guy and he’s one of those star players — same with (Matt) Duchene — and however they do it, they keep getting better and better every game.”

OFF THE GLASS

A guy who has stepped up and done a good job in the absence of the injured players is veteran centre Chris Tierney. He played 19:10 versus the Predators, including time on the power play and the penalty kill. He has been a penalty-killer his whole career. “We take a lot of pride in getting the job done and it can be a big part of the game,” Tierney said Wednesday. “If our penalty kill is going, we’re usually in games. Hopefully, we can keep improving and just get better and better at it.”

THE LAST WORDS

Making his debut against the Predators, newcomer Stefan Elliott played 12:43 on the club’s blueline. He was on the second unit of the power play and had 2:03 of time with the man advantage. “He did some good things,” Boucher said. “We gave an opportunity to be on the power play. He’s definitely been somebody who was brought in to give us some depth and to see what he could do.