Have the Ottawa Senators hit rock bottom? That’s up to them to decide

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The Ottawa Senators are at a crossroads.

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They can let this mind-numbing year go down the tubes completely or the Senators can pick themselves up off the mat with a goal of trying to close this season with some level of respect.

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Twenty games left in this season and coming off a 2-1 loss to the San Jose Sharks Saturday night to extend their winless skid to seven straight, the Senators left the Golden State with one lousy point thanks to a 4-3 overtime loss to the Los Angeles Kings Thursday.

The Senators are now 0-13-1 outside the Eastern time zone and that’s a befuddling statistic. As the club made its way home on its Air Canada Jetz charter Sunday to prepare to host Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins Tuesday, hopefully this group took some time for soul-searching.

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This team has gone from being bad to worse. The Senators woke up 18 points behind the Detroit Red Wings for the final wildcard spot in the East, the club hasn’t won since a victory over the Vegas Golden Knights Feb. 24 at home and this season of hope has gone down the tubes.

To make the challenge even more difficult, the Senators will be without centre Josh Norris for the balance of the year with a shoulder injury.

Defencemen Thomas Chabot isn’t expected to be out long with a leg injury he suffered late in the club’s loss to the Anaheim Ducks Wednesday, but he’s another key element on the shelf. It’s the third time this year he’s missed an extended period.

Veteran blueliner Travis Hamonic is week-to-week with undisclosed injury and even the club’s callups from its American Hockey League affiliate in Belleville have been hit with the injury bug after Matthew Highmore also left the game in Anaheim.

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If it feels to you like this disheartening season for the Senators can’t end soon enough, you’re not alone on that front. There are times it’s looked that way on the ice and the first period in San Jose it appeared that the Senators had that mindset as well.

Yes, the play picked up in the final 40 minutes and goaltender Magnus Chrona made 34 saves, but interim coach Jacques Martin noted that the Senators needed a better second effort in front of the net if they’re going to score goals.

“You’ve got to stick your nose in there for second and third opportunities if you’re going to score goals,” Martin told TSN 1200’s Gord Wilson following the loss.

Steve Staios, the club’s president of hockey operations and general manager, didn’t move anyone other than Vladimir Tarasenko at the National Hockey League trade deadline Friday but noted a lot of the Senators players “are coveted”.

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This group responded by not doing anything to raise their trade value with a lacklustre effort against the Sharks. The Senators have done an excellent job of playing down to the level of their competition this season and that game in San Jose is just another shiny example.

Let’s be honest, it’s not like the Senators have performed head and shoulders above the Sharks this season, but San Jose was ripe for plucking after dealing its top two scorers at the deadline and icing a lineup that would get fierce competition in the AHL.

Instead of picking up two points against the Sharks, the Senators had another pointless night and there’s been way too many of those this season.

Everybody is frustrated because even if the expectations placed on this team coming into the season were too high, the Senators record is way worse than anybody thought and there’s not one aspect of the team that is getting the job done.

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“It’s tough to stay positive when you keep losing, and keep losing the way that we’ve been playing” said centre Tim Stutzle, who scored the only goal against the Sharks. “It’s not that we’ve been playing terrible hockey, it’s just that it hasn’t been good enough.

“We’ve got to be better than that, myself included.”

With the Senators ready to miss the playoffs for the seventh straight year, there are those in this marketplace who are ready to embrace a lengthy losing streak down the stretch so the club has a better odds in the annual draft lottery.

The Senators swear they aren’t throwing in the towel, but you’d have every right to argue that point after that game in San Jose.

“We’ve just got to keep grinding,” said alternate captain Claude Giroux. “We’re not going to stop playing, but it’s definitely frustrating.”

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It’s clear the Senators need to make major changes in the off-season to even have a sniff at a playoff spot. Staios has never liked the way this roster was constructed and now it’s up to him to get the right support for this group to have success.

This season is a lost cause for the Senators. They can do things the right way and have moderate success or they can have a repeat of what’s taken place the last seven games the rest of the way.

The ball is in their court and, at this point, it’s up to them.

bgarrioch@postmedia.com

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