Practice is supposed to make perfect.
At least that’s how the old saying goes.
But coming off a 2-1 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday night to close out a four-game homestand with a 2-1-1 record, Ottawa Senators head coach Travis Green and his staff opted to dispense with a skate before heading to MacDonald-Cartier Airport to catch a flight to Washington on Friday.
Preparing to face Alex Ovechkin and the Capitals on Saturday, the Senators will hold a morning skate at the MCI Center before beginning a stretch of four games in six days, including a back-to-back Monday at home against the Boston Bruins and Tuesday at 8:45 p.m. ET in Chicago.
Somewhere in Russia, Guy Boucher, a former Senators coach, is telling fans of the Kontinental Hockey League’s Avangard Omsk that “rest is a weapon,” and, if he were still here today, he’d still be using that phrase.
The Senators have played eight times in 16 days since the puck was dropped on their National Hockey League season on Oct. 9 against the Tampa Bay Lightning. There was a back-to-back in there with a stop in Buffalo and a trip back home to face the Seattle Kraken one night later.
The practice time — or lack thereof — has become a point of debate for some fans on social media because they don’t feel that the Senators skating enough and that has been magnified by the 3-4-1 record to start the season.
But this is a situation that Green will have to monitor all season. The schedule is compressed more than usual because of a three-week break in February so NHL players can participate in the Winter Olympic Games in Italy.
There are days, especially when Green and his staff must determine if a 30-minute twirl on the ice is going to do the Senators any good, or would it serve the players better to get a quick reminder on game day with a morning skate.
It’s a fine line, and the Senators aren’t alone on this front because several NHL coaches talk about the lack of practice time with the schedule going at full tilt.
The days of a head coach following the example of legendary Montreal Canadiens bench boss Jacques Demers are all but over.
After a 1-3-1 start to the 1992-93 campaign and a loss to the Buffalo Sabres, Demers scheduled a 6 a.m. team video session followed by a 7 a.m. skate at the old Montreal Forum, sending a message that he wasn’t happy with his club.
According to a New York Times report from that season, forward Vincent Damphousse joked to reporters “that he knew it was early in the morning because the eyes of Rocket Richard were still closed in the picture on the locker-room wall.”
That sort of stuff can’t happen now because the collective agreement between the NHL and the NHL Players’ Association stipulates that practices must be held at a reasonable hour and players must receive their schedules monthly, with four mandated off-days built in.
It should be noted that the Habs went on to be the last Canadian team to win the Stanley Cup with a victory over Wayne Gretzky and the Los Angeles Kings in five games that spring.
Anybody who thought Green should have cancelled the scheduled day off last Sunday to hold a skate with no pucks, after a 5-4 loss to the New York Islanders at home, wasn’t going to get their wish.
Senators defenceman Nick Jensen, middle, battles for the puck with the Flyers’ Tyson Foerster and Bobby Brink in the third period of Thursday’s game at Canadian Tire Centre.
The Senators went back to work on Monday, and what we’ve since then witnessed two steps in the right direction.
First there was a 3-2 overtime loss to Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday. Then, against the Flyers on Tuesday, the Senators didn’t give up a whole lot in the way of chances, and goaltender Linus Ullmark shut the door in the third period to secure a win.
Green feels there is a need to let the players get away and refocus.
“It’s nice to reset for sure,” Green said on Monday. “As a coaching staff, and as an organization, you look at the schedule and you pick and choose what’s best for your team at certain moments.
“I thought it was really important that we had a mental break (on Sunday). You don’t just not think about the game. I know that coaches don’t, and I also know that players don’t wipe those games from their minds. Those are tough losses.”
Twenty-three years ago, Philadelphia 76ers star Allen Iverson went on a historic rant about “practice,” using that word 22 times.
“We sitting in here — I’m supposed to be the franchise player — and we in here talking about practice,” Iverson said. “I mean, listen: We talking about practice. Not a game. Not a game. Not a game. We talking about practice. Not a game. Not the game that I go out there and die for and play every game like it’s my last. Not the game. We talking about practice, man.”
The Senators have opted to swap some practice time for recovery. Hoping rest — with apologies — will be a weapon.
bgarrioch@postmedia.com