Somehow, the Ottawa Senators have become their own worst enemies.
The Senators have fumbled away two straight games against Atlantic Division rivals with a 4-3 overtime loss to the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday and a 3-2 OT decision versus the Boston Bruins on Thursday.
Why? The Senators’ performance for 60 minutes wasn’t good enough in either loss and they didn’t give themselves a chance to win against two teams that they could be battling for a playoff spot come April.
The Senators battled back to earn the point against the Bruins, but they were realistic in their assessment of that loss.
“We weren’t playing great for the first two periods and that’s on us as players,” alternate captain Thomas Chabot said. “We didn’t play well for 40 minutes, we tied it and got it to OT. It’s one point, but we’ve got to look at each other as a team and just be better.”
Coach Travis Green wasn’t the least bit pleased with what he witnessed against the Bruins. Sure, he was happy to get the point, but he had a tough time being positive after the disgraceful defeat.
“We didn’t have a lot of good players tonight to be honest,” Green said.
That’s about as blunt as he can be.
The Senators’ best players haven’t been on top of their game, but the club is 5-2-3 in its past 10 games. To have success, the club’s best players have to be on top of their game, especially with captain Brady Tkachuk injured.
We know that’s not going to happen every night, but the Senators have to play with more consistency with the club in the midst of another stretch of six games in 10 days that started in Boston.
Not all is bad for the Senators because they have found a way to win, but there has to improvement in every area for this club to make the post-season. All 16 teams in the Eastern Conference went into Friday night with a record of .500 or better.
There has to be some concern that two significant off-season moves made by president of hockey operations and general manager Steve Staios haven’t made much of an impact at all.
First, there is defenceman Jordan Spence, acquired from the Los Angeles Kings for a second-round pick in June, who has been a healthy scratch for nine of the club’s 14 games, but he’ll likely face the Flyers.
The decision by Green to scratch Spence has become a sore point for the fan base. He has only played once since he got turned around by Anders Lee in a loss to the New York Islanders on Oct. 18, but the club will need him because most teams use eight blueliners.
The bottom line is that Spence will get his chance and, if it happens against the Flyers, he has to make an impression to make it difficult for Green to take him out.
Then, there is winger Fabian Zetterlund, signed to a three-year deal that is paying him $4.275 US million per season, who has one goal and three points in 14 games while playing mostly on the fourth line.
Acquired from the San Jose Sharks at last year’s trade deadline, Zetterlund has struggled to find consistency since he got here. In 34 games with Ottawa, Zetterlund has three goals and eight points, which isn’t close to expectations.
Zetterlund needs to find a way to contribute consistently.
What will be interesting to watch on Saturday is who will start in net for the Senators against the Flyers.
Linus Ullmark made his 12th start in 14 games against the Bruins — and every mistake ended up in the net. The winner by Pavel Zacha with six seconds left in OT came as a result of Ullmark losing track of where the puck was underneath him.
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But Ullmark gave his club a chance to win and that’s all they can ask of him because he wasn’t getting a lot of support in front of him for most of that game.
Still, it’s time to see if Leevi Merilainen can pick up the ball and run with it by giving him the start against the Flyers. There was some thought he might face the Bruins because he made 26 stops in the club’s 7-2 victory over Boston at home on Oct. 27.
That was only his second start of the year.
Merilainen has played more games for the club’s American Hockey League affiliate in Belleville than he has for the Senators. Since he hasn’t had much playing time up here, Staios has done the right thing by making sure Merilainen has had a chance to get some playing time in the minors.
If Merilainen has a strong effort against the Flyers, then it would make sense for him to face the Utah Mammoth on Sunday night at home.