Inconsistent play costs Senators the sweep in Florida
Two steps forward, two steps back.
From top to bottom of the lineup, the Ottawa Senators weren’t even close to good enough Sunday, leaving Florida with a mixed bag of a weekend following a flat performance in a 5-1 romp by the Florida Panthers. All the highs stemming from Saturday’s impressive third period comeback in a 6-4 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning turned into lows as the Senators limped home.
The Senators led 1-0 on Ryan Dzingel’s first-period powerplay goal, but the game got away quickly from the Senators and current backup netminder Mike McKenna as the Panthers put up a five-spot in the second.
Aleksander Barkov scored two, with Jonathan Huberdeau, Troy Brouwer and Frank Vatrano completing the second-period onslaught. Former Senators sniper Mike Hoffman assisted on Barkov’s first, extending his consecutive games point streak to 12 games, only two shy of Pavel Bure’s franchise record of 14.
“It’s tough sledding when they score five in one period and we can’t have that happen,” said winger Mikkel Boedker. “It’s happening too often around here, I think. We’ve got to put that nail in the coffin and stop messing up in a period because it’s hard to battle back.”
Boedker says there’s a growing frustration with the pattern that has seen the Senators follow up a good period with a terrible one.
“We’ve proven that we can do right things for 20 minutes, 30 minutes, but it just doesn’t seem like we’ve been able to put 60 minutes together for awhile. And in this league, that’s what we need to do. The older guys, we’ve got to be better at keeping calm when the ship is kind of wobbly.”
Adding injury to the insult of the romp was the loss of rookie centre Colin White to an apparent hand injury. Senators coach Guy Boucher says there’s no word on how serious it is.
While McKenna is certainly not to blame for the defeat, the Senators are still in search for a backup plan to the current backup goaltending plan.
With Mike Condon trying to rediscover his game in Belleville of the American Hockey League, McKenna was receiving his first start in order to give overworked Craig Anderson a breather.
“It’s my job, it’s what I prepare for,” said McKenna. “I wish there were five less goals tonight, but I will learn from it, like always. I’m never satisfied with my game, whether we win or lose.”
In the big picture, a .500 road trip isn’t half bad, but after the emotion of Saturday’s win in Tampa, the potential was there for a confidence-boosting sweep of Florida.
“When you have a big comeback win like that — there was a lot of emotion in that game, where everyone lays it on the line — you’ve got to find a way to not let that get the better of you in the next game,” said defenceman Mark Borowiecki.