It’s not one thing or one person, but Ottawa Senators are a mess

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It has become sort of a thing; Ottawa Senators players, their voices full of frustration and disappointment, trying to explain yet another loss.

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As the team’s playoff hopes steadily sink from “not likely” to “snowball’s chance in hell,” the results don’t seem to change much.

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On Tuesday night, the Senators lost their fourth straight game — all on the road. They played well enough for most of the first 40 minutes to win.

Then, they gave up four unanswered goals to lose 6-3 to the Calgary Flames.

Same-old Senators? Sort of. Except, in a way, it’s worse.

These Senators were supposed to contend. After six seasons of missing the playoffs, this was supposed to be the year.

And, yet, here we are.

“It’s just frustrating,” defenceman Jakob Chychrun said. “I wish I had the answers for us as a group. It can be hard for us to stay positive at times. But we’re left with no other option. We have to continue to put the work boots on and find a way out of this hole.

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“The first two periods (against Calgary) were pretty good, overall. We had the lead going into the third. The room was energized and feeling good about the way we were playing in a road game. We went out in the third and blew it. It’s as simple as that. It’s a tough one to swallow, it’s unacceptable.”

As we head into mid-January, nearing the halfway point of the team’s 82-game NHL schedule, the Senators continue to spin their wheels, stuck in last place in the Eastern Conference with 28 points.

They’re seven points behind the East’s next worst, Columbus, with six games in hand. They’re 10 points behind Buffalo, the 14th-place team, with five games in hand.

Maybe they catch the Blue Jackets, maybe they catch the Sabres. But the target needs to be much higher: Tampa Bay, the team occupying the final wild-card spot, is a whopping 17 points ahead (look at the bright side, the Lightning has played six more games).

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“It’s about us, this group of guys,” defenceman Thomas Chabot said. “We can do video, we can do systems, but at the end of the day, it’s about us going out there and executing the game plan. I repeat myself, but you lose another game, it’s all of us. You don’t look at the guy next to you or the guy in front of you, it’s you looking at yourself in the mirror.”

From the outside, there’s always blame. That’s what we do, find a scapegoat — somebody that’s not playing well enough or something that’s knocked the team off the rails.

Not long ago, we all had the solution: Fire the coach, he’s the problem. D.J. Smith was pink-slipped and, with Jacques Martin running the show, the Senators are 3-7.

Same old story, same old song and dance.

The struggles go back to questionable roster decisions by former GM and team architect Pierre Dorion, moves that have put the Senators in salary-cap hell.

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From there, it’s not one thing or one person at fault.

Think things … plural. Think defensive-zone collapses. Think an inability to maintain puck possession. Think playing better away from the puck. Think below-average power play. Think penalty killing — 32nd in the league, the absolute worst.

It’s not a player problem. It’s a players problem, multiple guys not performing to potential.

Tim Stutzle has shown us glimpses of being “elite.” Last season, he had 39 goals and 51 assists for 90 points — 19th overall in league scoring. This year, he’s at seven goals, 27 assists in 36 games — almost a point a game, but it’s a very quiet 34 points.

He’s very much been a periphery player. A year ago, he showed the expansiveness of his game with 114 hits, he’s currently at 33.

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Oh, and Stutzle is being paid $5 million (with a salary cap hit of $8.35 million).

Brady Tkachuk, the $10.5-million captain (with a cap hit of $8,205,714), has 17 goals and 12 assists. Not bad. But well off the 35 goals and 48 assists he put up a year ago.

The rugged winger is at his best when he’s mucking it up in front of the opposition net. It just doesn’t always seem like that’s where he ends up.

If you’ve got Tkachuk in a hockey pool where penalty minutes count, you’re happy — with 88 minutes, he’s second to Arizona winger Liam O’Brien’s 91 in the league.

At some point, you’ve got to figure Stutzle and Tkachuk are permanently reunited on the top line, right? The decision-makers need to figure out a way to get the engines revving for both.

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Josh Norris, who is being paid $6.5 million (with a cap hit of $7,950,000) and is the centre of the team’s top line, has 12 goals and eight assists after missing most of last season with a shoulder injury.

The Senators have soon-to-be unrestricted free agent Vladimir Tarasenko, a $5-million winger, playing on their third line. He also has a no-trade clause.

There’s a give-a-crap vibe from the players. Again, you can hear it in their voices, see it in their body language.

Caring, though, hasn’t translated to winning.

The return of suspended centre Shane Pinto soon should help. Should.

Tuesday night, Calgary’s first two goals were a result of giveaways in Ottawa’s end. It’s the kind of thing that infuriates a coach.

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“We have a chance of moving the puck quickly and getting it out (of our zone),” Martin said. “We take it back, (with passes from) D to D. You can’t play that way.”

Martin hopes some of what he teaches and preaches sticks. The next test: Thursday in Buffalo, before the Senators return home for a Saturday game vs. lowly San Jose.

“You have a choice, you either sulk (over a loss) or you take it, be a man and want to get better,” said Martin.

It’s hard to imagine it could get much worse.

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