Struggling Senators face difficult task of McDavid and Draisaitl

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If life is a highway, the Ottawa Senators took a wrong turn this season and now they’re on the road to nowhere fast.

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The effort was better Thursday night in a 4-1 loss to the Seattle Kraken at the Climate Pledge Arena, but the result was the same as the Senators dropped their second straight on this road trip with a game against the Edmonton Oilers Saturday night looming large.

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If the Senators thought this road trip was tough when they packed their bags, it’s about to get even more difficult.

Edmonton captain Connor McDavid has 11 goals, 28 assists and 39 points in 22 career games against Ottawa. McDavid’s teammate, winger Leon Draisaitl, has been a force to be reckoned with as well because he has amassed 15-18-33 points in 22 games against the Senators.

The Senators last win in the Western Conference was March 9 last season in a 5-4 victory over Seattle. Ottawa started this trip with a 6-3 loss to the Vancouver Canucks Tuesday night at Rogers Arena.

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While the time for moral victories has passed for the Senators, coach Jacques Martin is trying to cling to any hope he can find as the club fell to 3-5-0 since he took over an interim basis and Hall of Fame captain Daniel Alfredsson went behind the bench as an assistant.

“I thought we did a lot of good things,” Martin told TSN 1200’s Gord Wilson after the club’s skate in Edmonton on Friday. “We had some mental lapses when it was 1-0. We gave up a goal with five minutes (left in the second) and it’s 2-0 after having good chances to score.

“Our guys just have to learn to stick with the program. The game is 60 minutes but overall it was a good effort. We need to manage the game better and pay attention to details. You don’t change overnight but the important thing is to make some progress as you move along.”

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The costly mistakes the Senators are making right now are the same issues they’ve been having all season.

The problems have become two-fold: First, they make a bad decision or giveaway in front of the goaltender and then either Joonas Korpisalo or Anton Forsberg doesn’t make the save.

Down 2-0 with five minutes to go in the second, the Senators were pressing hard but couldn’t score on former teammate Joey Daccord. Then a turnover by Tim Stutzle in his own zone, resulted in a goal by Seattle’s Andre Burakovsky with 57 seconds left in the period.

Suddenly, it was 3-0 for the Kraken and it was game over heading to the third. The trouble started with only 4:57 left in the second when Tomas Tatar was allowed to skate through the middle of the zone in alone and beat Korpisalo to give the club a 2-0 advantage.

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“We had good chances and we’ve got to find ways to score,” said centre Josh Norris. “We have to have some better puck management in the second period and it nipped us in the bud. It’s something we have to clean up, but from an offensive standpoint I thought we did a lot of good things.

“We’ve just got to play a more complete game.”

The 71-year-old Martin, who coached his 700th game behind the Senators’ bench Thursday and No. 1,301 of his career, and Alfredsson may now be wondering what they’ve gotten themselves into. The coaching change hasn’t had much of an effect.

Bad habits are hard to break, but it’s concerning that this group isn’t showing any signs of changing its approach.

When Steve Staios, the club’s president of hockey operations and general manager, decided to fire coach D.J. Smith last month, the expectation was Martin would bring details to the club’s game and though he’s tried that hasn’t been the case in the small sample size we’ve seen.

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The Senators are sitting in last place in the East with only 28 points through 34 games. That’s 15 points behind the Tampa Bay Lightning for the final wild-card spot in the conference and the Senators are headed for a seventh straight spring with no playoffs in Ottawa.

This team is far worse than anybody could have imagined. The reality is its on the best players to be at their best to get this team turned around. There isn’t one player in the Ottawa dressing room that can claim they’ve played up to their capabilities.

This team is built around the core of Brady Tkachuk, Tim Stutzle, Josh Norris, Drake Batherson, Thomas Chabot and Sanderson. It’s time for the potential of all those players to meet production again at both ends or the reality is Staios may strike at the core with a trade.

Not one of the club’s defencemen is playing well. Artem Zub is often referred to as a “man of mystery” but the way he’s playing right now has to be a mystery to management. He doesn’t look good at all, but the reality is nobody on the blue line or roster does.

“We’ve got to learn that you may have to win a game 1-0 or 2-1,” Martin said after the loss in Seattle.

You think you’ve heard those words before? You have, from Smith in November. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

bgarrioch@postmedia.com

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