Being smart with the puck among things on Ottawa Senators FIx-It list

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Jacques Martin likes to talk about puck management.

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The words come up often in media interviews when the Ottawa Senators interim head coach is asked about where his team needs to get better.

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It’s an area of the game where the Senators haven’t been particularly good this season, a large contributing factor in why they’re (at least statistically) the worst team in the NHL’s Eastern Conference. Play smarter when you have the puck, make better decisions. It’s hard for the other team to score when you have possession of the puck.

For the Senators, though, it goes deeper than that; they need to be better when they don’t have the puck. It’s not like it’s a simple fix, plus it’s not like the Senators don’t have other issues. But the team will continue to spin their wheels if they can’t figure out how to play a smarter game, with more attention to the fine details that can be the difference between winning and losing.

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Martin pointed to Tuesday’s game against Calgary, where coughing up the puck led directly to two goals by the Flames.

The Senators led 3-2 after two periods, then collapsed in the third period as the Flames scored four straight goals.

Heading into Thursday night’s game in Buffalo, a team Ottawa beat 5-1 New Year’s Eve, the Senators had lost four straight, all on the road. After the game against the Sabres, the Senators return home for a Saturday game (4 p.m.) against the worst team in the NHL, the San Jose Sharks. It’ll be the first of four straight home games for Ottawa.

But back to the Calgary game. Martin wasn’t happy that the Senators continued to make mistakes that led directly to opposition goals.

“We had a pretty good effort, but we probably beat ourselves,” Martin told TSN 1200’s Gord Wilson after the morning skate Thursday. “We need to clean up our breakouts. At times (against Calgary), we struggled. We didn’t manage the puck well enough. A couple of times, we were near the blue line and we were taking the puck back instead of just getting the puck out of the zone. They’re small things, but sometimes they make the difference in a hockey game.”

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Communication between the players on the ice also needs to improve, according to the coach.

“If we can get our players to talk, it makes the game simpler,” he said. “Areas where we need to be better: Counting numbers so we’re above people. We need to forecheck, but you need to count the number of (opposition) players who are in deep. We need to make sure we play with structure, force the opposition to dump the puck in. And we have to get back to help defence with breakouts.”

With first-line centre Josh Norris (upper-body injury) sidelined after taking a tumble to the ice in Tuesday’s game, Ridly Greig stepped up to take his place between Brady Tkachuk and Claude Giroux.

Asked about Greig, Martin said: “He brings a lot of energy to the game, he’s good on the forecheck and he’s done a good job defensively.”

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Norris will be re-evaluated when the team returns to Ottawa.

ICE CHIPS

Changes to Ottawa’s lineup Thursday included shuffling Parker Kelly to the second line with Tim Stutzle and Drake Batherson. Mathieu Joseph played between Dominik Kubalik and Vladimir Tarasenko …  Winger Zack MacEwen, who, heading into Thursday’s game, had scored his only goal of the season against Buffalo, with a blast from the right side, was asked about a season that’s been interrupted by being put on waivers, a demotion to the team’s AHL farm team in Belleville, benchings and illness. “It was a slow start to the year for me,” he said. “I wanted to work on my game as much as I could, battling though injuries and dealing with the different situations the team was going through. It’s nice to play some minutes and get a couple of games in a row and start feeling good about the game and build on it from there.” … Going into Thursday’s game, the Senators had scored at least one goal in the first period in 26 of their 36 games, while getting 10 of their 14 wins when leading after the opening period. The Senators were tied for fifth (with Colorado) in the NHL with 42 first-period goals this season (Norris had a team-leading eight goals). The Sabres led the NHL in most first-period goals (53) allowed … Defenceman Artem Zub returned to the Senators lineup Thursday as the team went with seven defencemen and 11 forwards … Heading home isn’t a bad thing – the Senators have a .500 record (10-10) at Canadian Tire Centre this season.

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