For Sens, critical juncture has arrived
We get it. The players had to try and find something positive after losing 2-1 to the New York Islanders Saturday, but the talk that they could have beaten the Islanders and should have beaten Arizona on Nov. 18 is irrelevant.
What matters is that the Ottawa Senators’ losing skid is at six games, their longest in almost four years. (They were outplayed, sometimes badly, in the other four defeats). Worse still, picking up but one point over that stretch in the modern NHL with points for overtime and shootout losses is devastating.
It seems so early to talk about this, but to reach 95 points — the entry spot for Toronto in the second wild card spot in the Eastern Conference last season — the Senators would need to pick up 73 points in their final 60 games. That’s 35-22-3, 34-21-5 or 33-20-7.
Mountain, meet the Senators.
“We’ve got two ways we can go,” Matt Duchene said. “We get bitter or we get better … we’re going to choose the latter.”
DIVISIONAL HOPE:
It’s astounding, really, how terrible the Atlantic Division is, where only Tampa and Toronto have won more games than they’ve lost. If the Senators somehow make it back into the playoff race, they have a better shot as the third seed in the Atlantic than as a wild card team … As dire as the situation appears in Montreal, the Canadiens could pass the Senators in the standings with a win over Columbus on Monday. If not then, the Canadiens could overtake the Senators during Wednesday’s meeting at the Bell Centre, which kicks off the Senators’ ridiculous seven-game road trip.
ABOUT THE CAPTAIN:
It’s no coincidence that captain Erik Karlsson’s personal pointless streak is at six games, the same length as the Senators slide. The last time Karlsson went so long without a point? His rookie season of 2009-10, when he went eight games without hitting the scoresheet. “We can do whatever we want and feel good about ourselves, but it’s results that we want,” said Karlsson. “We’ve got to pay the price a little bit more. I feel like we’re playing a little bit too much on the outside. If we don’t play the best hockey than we possibly can, we’re not going to put ourselves in situations to win games.”
RISE OF BIG BEN HARPUR:
Beyond the points, something seems a tad off about Karlsson. It’s hard not to think that he’s still adjusting after his major offseason foot surgery. In explaining why he chose to play rookie Ben Harpur over rookie Thomas Chabot Saturday, Senators coach Guy Boucher said it was because Harpur could help take some defensive pressure off Karlsson in five-on-five situations. “(Harpur) is able to play against the better players. It relieves some of the time on ice against better players for Erik to be able to do his thing, to give him a breather to go on offence and we thought we needed more of that.”
BOLSTERING BELLEVILLE:
Chabot and left winger Nick Paul were assigned to Belleville of the AHL and both played in the B-Sens matinee against the Toronto Marlies. Chabot could be recalled for the start of the seven-game road trip Wednesday against Montreal, pending the health of Mark Borowiecki, who suffered a concussion Nov. 19 against the New York Rangers ... When Johnny Oduya was signed as a free agent in the summer, his US$1-million base salary wasn’t a major financial gamble. He might hit additional bonuses for $250,000 for playing in 41 and 65 games, but he’s not going to get additional cash for finishing top three in ice time among defencemen or top five in ice time among all players. How soon until Boucher opts to take out Oduya as part of the healthy scratch rotation?
THE LONG ROAD AHEAD:
The Senators were off the ice Sunday and will stay away again on Monday, before a Tuesday practice en route to Montreal. Shouldn’t they be practising more, working on the many areas of concern? “This is a break we planned a long time ago,” Boucher said, referencing the oddity of a schedule that has them playing only one home game over a 24-day stretch. “This is the moment. If we don’t take it now, it’s not coming back again.”
Again, it sounds crazy coming in late November, but it has the potential to be a trek that could make or break the season. “You can kind of get sucked into thinking about some of the negativity that goes into a big trip like that, but we have to make it a team bonding trip where come together as a group like we did in Sweden,” said goaltender Craig Anderson.