Even a changing of the guard behind the bench on Monday couldn't stop the poor Ottawa Senators' decline, at least for now.
On Tuesday, the Ottawa team once again stood out for its ability to find ways to lose. With interim coach Jacques Martin and his assistant Daniel Alfredsson, the players appeared to be in for a promising evening on Tuesday. In Arizona, the visitors scored the first three goals of the game, but without counting on the determination of the Coyotes, who scored three times without conceding a goal in the final half to secure a 4-3 victory.
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Obviously, this is not the type of performance that will get the Senators back into the National Hockey League (NHL) Eastern Conference playoffs. With a 3-0 lead, they slowed the pace and their rivals took the opportunity to fire 38 shots at goalkeeper Joonas Korpisalo.
“I think we played a very good first half and played hard the whole game. However, there are aspects that need to be improved. There is no excuse. We still allowed too many chances to score. “We knew they were going to show up to play, but we gave them chances,” said striker Tim Stützle, as reported by the Ottawa Sun newspaper.
So Martin quickly understood why his new team was in the midst of a five-game losing streak. Still, the 71-year-old said he enjoyed his return to the NHL as a head coach, taking charge for the first time since April 2004.
“It was good, I felt comfortable and our coaching staff had good meetings. This will be a process to follow. We have different facets that we need to refine. “It won’t happen in one day,” he told radio station TSN 1200.
Defensive game to polish
The necessary corrections to revitalize the team also include defensive play. Ottawa ranks 26th in Bettman's rankings with a goals-against average per game of 3.44. The connection to the poor performance of his numerical inferiority is easy to make: the “Sens” hold 29th place in the league with 73.0%. The problems are known and the transition from theory to practice remains.
“We put in a lot of effort and achieved some great things. I think our puck possession, especially in the offensive zone, was outstanding. However, we have to be better somewhere else, analyzed Martin. After the game I spoke to the entire team. The effort was there, but we have to understand that our disk management needs to be better.”
Proper execution needs to happen sooner rather than later for the Senators, who are 11-16-0 this season. They will finish their trip west with a visit to the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday.