Ottawa Citizen

Loss shows Sens remain a work in progress

Opening-night loss to Toronto Maple Leafs another sign rebuild still has work to do

- kwarren@postmedia.com Twitter.com/Citizenkwa­rren KEN WARREN

Rest assured, this won’t be the last time you hear Ottawa Senators coach D.J. Smith talk about growing pains.

After Wednesday’s shaky regular season opening 5-3 loss in Toronto — the Maple Leafs were playing in a different league in the second period — Smith was talking all about learning valuable lessons on what figures to be the long, bumpy trip down Developmen­t Road.

“When you’re out there and you’re playing against two of the top three of four lines in the league every second shift and you’re a young guy and you’re hemmed in your own zone, it’s tough,” Smith said following Thursday’s practice, which featured several new line combinatio­ns in preparatio­n for Saturday’s home opener against the New York Rangers. “That’s part of the game, part of the learning curve.”

Accordingl­y, the lineup juggling is about protecting the more inexperien­ced members of the forward lines.

Well, that and spreading out the speed as much as possible after Auston Matthews and his teammates took advantage of the Senators’ defensive breakdowns.

For now, Bobby Ryan has replaced Connor Brown on a line with Brady Tkachuk and Colin White. Brown has moved to a trio with Anthony Duclair and Jean-Gabriel Pageau. Chris Tierney is centring a unit with Tyler Ennis and Scott Sabourin on his wings.

Artem Anisimov is in the middle of a de facto fourth line. Mikkel Boedker was on one wing, with Filip Chlapik and Drake Batherson alternatin­g on the other.

Boedker was a healthy scratch in the season opener, but will return Saturday. Either Chlapik or Batherson, who was on the ice for four goals against versus the Maple Leafs, will sit out as

We didn’t have enough speed up and down the lineup, so I tried to split it up a little bit.

a healthy scratch against the Rangers.

“We didn’t have enough speed up and down the lineup, so I tried to split it up a little bit,” said Smith.

“I’ve also got to make sure I’m giving guys roles. Especially with a young team, I don’t want to be pulling guys off the ice when we’re on the road. At home, we get the (last change) matchup. I want to try and put a responsibl­e group together.”

Despite being short-handed for much of the first period against the Maple Leafs, the Senators headed into the first intermissi­on leading 1-0.

But that’s when the Maple Leafs exploited the new-look Senators, who are clearly still adjusting to Smith’s structural approach. It is different from that employed by former coach Guy Boucher and some players are caught in between.

“We’re a work in progress,” said goaltender Craig Anderson, who stopped 37 of 42 shots. “We went over some video (Thursday). We’ve all got to look at ourselves and be a little better.”

Anderson said it isn’t so much about being outworked as it is about fine-tuning the decision-making and defensive responsibi­lities at pivotal spots on the ice.

“When you look at the video and break it down, it’s (we) could have been a little smarter here, or a little smarter there. The guys who have been here have kind of been stuck in a style of play that’s not what we’re playing now. When it’s fresh and new, it’s tough to sustain that, so you revert back to old habits.”

Old opening night enemies are also tough to stop. Matthews, who scored four goals in his NHL debut against the Senators in 2016-17, took over Wednesday’s game by scoring twice.

“It’s frustratin­g for me, because I do have that competitiv­e fire,” said Anderson. “He’s the one guy you want to keep off the scoresheet and he’s the guy who finds a way to get on it.”

Pageau says the Senators should have made life a lot easier for their goaltender.

“We let their best player start skating with the puck,” he said. “We opened up the middle of the ice and in the second (period). We weren’t physical enough and that’s when they took over.”

Not surprising­ly, Thursday’s practice featured some intense battle drills in the most dangerous scoring areas.

Goal No. 1 in mastering the new Smith regime is to find out how to keep the red light from shining so often in their own end.

“There’s always an adjustment period, said Pageau. “You don’t want to be on the ice thinking about where you should go. That’s sometimes the fraction of a second that you lose and you need. We’re getting there.”

Beware the detours and the potholes along the way.

 ?? JEAN LEVAC ?? Mark Borowiecki, left, of the Ottawa Senators battles against teammate Drake Batherson during practice at the Canadian Tire Centre on Thursday.
JEAN LEVAC Mark Borowiecki, left, of the Ottawa Senators battles against teammate Drake Batherson during practice at the Canadian Tire Centre on Thursday.
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