Jacques Martin and the Ottawa Senators making steps in the right direction

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Jacques Martin was in a good mood as he took questions from a small group of media assembled at the Canadian Tire Centre Wednesday morning.

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The Ottawa Senators’ interim head coach has every right to be.

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Not only have the Senators earned points by going 3-0-1 in their last three games, the club is 4-1-1 in its last six and is showing signs of turning the corner in a season where it’s been difficult for them to get any traction.

After being appointed to the head coaching role on Dec. 18 by Steve Staios, the club’s president of hockey operations and general manager, when D.J.. Smith was fired, Martin and Hockey Hall of Fame assistant Daniel Alfredsson have focused on trying to get this club to play well at both ends.

The Senators wrapped up their two-game road trip with their second straight win Tuesday night after a 4-1 victory over the Montreal Canadiens at the Bell Centre. That came on the heels of a 5-3 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers Sunday and you can start to feel the confidence of this group building.

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“If I look back at our last four games, we seem to be playing with more commitment away from the puck,” Martin said. “There seems to be more of a focus of trusting each other and working together. Our penalty killing was pretty good. We had to kill five penalties and we did a good job.

“There’s improvement all over our game as far as paying attention to details on the technical side. I’ve really liked, especially the game in Philly, I thought we showed really good composure when we were behind in that game. We didn’t cheat, we didn’t change our game plan, we stuck with it, we were able to grind it out and we came out on top.”

The Senators have their work cut out for them Thursday night with the top-ranked Boston Bruins in town to start a three-game home stand and only four games left before the NHL all-star break.

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But the club went head-to-head in a battle with the Winnipeg Jets Saturday and dropped a 2-1 overtime decision in a game that could have gone either way. Martin has talked a lot about getting the core players on this team to player with structure and commitment.

That message can be easier to sell when the players see tangible results in the win column. The Senators are 7-9-1 in the 18 games that Martin has coached in his second stint behind the bench and are 4-1-1 in the last six.

“You mean my age and my years of experience in this league aren’t just good enough for some of these guys?,” Martin asked with a wry smile. “For sure, when you can get some wins and some positive results, that’s a big boost and it’s a big factor.

“Otherwise, you’ve got to be hard (in giving the message) to them again and you have to kind of tap them on the back. Getting some rewards with wins is a big factor.”

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The victory over the Habs was key because the Senators may have bent in the third period, but they didn’t break. They also got key stops at key times from Joonas Korpisalo and Martin quick to tip his cap to the top goalie’s effort after the win.

There’s been a lot of teaching going on here since Martin took over and it’s taken awhile for the players to adjust to what’s been thrown their way. This is the kind of stuff that a coaching staff usually institutes during training camp, not in early-January when the season is well under way.

But Martin noted the players are starting to use their instinct.

“We’ve changed some systems to try to make it more compatible with the group that we have,” Martin said. “A big part of it’s just working through video and understanding the importance of playing above the puck or above your man. We’re trying to cut back on scoring chances (against).

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“I’ve thought in the last three to four games we were pretty good.”

THE LAST WORDS

Defenceman Travis Hamonic, who left the club’s game Sunday in Philly with an undisclosed injury in the first, wasn’t among the players on the ice. He’ll miss his second straight with the Bruins in town Thursday and Martin had no update on when Hamonic might return …  Centre Shane Pinto and his teammates wore wide smiles after he scored his first of the season against the Habs. He’d gotten a text from his father, Frank, earlier in the day saying he was going to get his first one that night. “Then he said I told you so. That was a pretty cool text I got. A lot of people reached out so that was pretty cool to see,” Pinto said. It was also nice that Pinto’s mother, Cathy, was in the building as part of the Mom’s Trip to share the moment … The only players on the ice Wednesday were Dominik Kubalik, Artem Zub, Mark Kastelic, Pinto and goaltender Mads Sogaard. The rest were at the rink, but were in the gym. Kastelic has been a healthy scratch for two straight while Kubalik has been out with a minor hip injury.

bgarrioch@postmedia.com

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