The Ottawa Senators have literally lost their winning formula, and with defeats piling up, troop morale is declining despite changes announced by the organization earlier this week.
So far, the dismissal of head coach DJ Smith, who was replaced on an interim basis by Jacques Martin, has not brought the expected results. For the second meeting in a row, the “Sens” lost a lead in the second half of the game on Thursday. After a two-goal lead, they defeated the Colorado Avalanche 6-4, have survived their last six meetings and are in eighth place in the Atlantic Section of the National Hockey League.
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After a terrible trip to the West that ended without a win in five games, Brady Tkachuk and his teammates continue to look for solutions and hope to build on concrete elements: To do that, they must beat the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday at the Canadian Tire Centre.
“It is very difficult to see the positive. The feeling is pretty shitty and I don't think I've felt so bad in my entire life. “It’s not fun at all right now,” Tkachuk told NHL.com. Ultimately it's about myself as a leader. I have to do a better job. I'm not there individually, I'm not playing properly. I feel like it's boring me. It's up to me to sort this out. I’m the leader, the one in charge, and we have to do better.”
The effort is there, but…
In Martin's eyes, the fruits of hard work will sooner or later be visible. The 71-year-old head coach is trying to give himself encouragement even as the club's chances of qualifying for the playoffs are fading. That's 16 points behind a place in the playoffs.
“I told the team that the boys were just as disappointed that they didn’t win. What is important to me, however, is that we have made progress compared to our last game [un échec de 4 à 3 aux mains des Coyotes de l’Arizona, mardi]”, He thought.
“I think we tried harder, we protected the red line better and didn't let the opponent invade our territory so easily. In the middle section we became more and more solid as the game went on. That's a good sign.”
The duel between the Penguins and the Senators will be broadcast on TVA Sports.