Jacques Martin’s second stint with the Senators is getting results

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Sometimes you have to take a step back, to take a step forward.

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As the losses were piling up in early-January, Ottawa Senators’ interim coach Jacques Martin sat his young team down in the dressing room and had a frank discussion about the way they were playing.

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He let them know that they might score goals, but unless they were ready to compete at both ends of the ice, they weren’t going to be successful.

“I talked to them. At one point, after awhile, I was honest with them and I was emotional about it because I really like our guys,” Martin said Thursday morning at the Canadian Tire Centre. “They’re great kids but they weren’t progressing like they should.

“I was blunt, but I said I’m an old man and I’ve been in this league for 35 years, I can tell you right now if you don’t make a commitment about playing without the puck, you’re never going to win. (He told them) you’ve got great skill and great talent so it’s up to you. At some point, you’ve got to learn lessons from game-to-game.”

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There’s an old saying that goes ‘sometimes you need a boot in the butt to get you up the ladder’ and that’s what Martin was trying to accomplish when he had his heart-to-heart chat with the group.

The Senators are making steps to right the ship and that has come with a commitment from their best players.

The Senators went into Thursday’s visit by the Anaheim Ducks to the Canadian Tire Centre with four straight wins and a 7-1-2 record in their last 10 games. Yes, they were still ranked No. 15 in the East, but the club is trending the right way and that’s all that matters.

“I give them credit. I think they’ve grown,” Martin said. “Congratulations to them, making that commitment and playing within the structure. You’re going to get some results, it doesn’t mean you’re going to win every night because every team is good in this league.

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“Every night it’s a battle. That’s the other aspect you have to work at every night, is showing up, competing and playing hard.”

When Steve Staios, the club’s president of hockey operations and general manager, decided to fire coach D.J. Smith on Dec. 18 and install Martin behind the bench with former captain Daniel Alfredsson as an assistant, everybody involved knew Rome wasn’t built in a day.

It has been a slow, steady climb back to respectability for the Senators that has taken longer than expected, but the club went into the game against the Ducks with an 11-10-2 record in the 23 games since Martin has returned. That’s after posing a 3-7-0 record in his first 10 games.

Martin understands the likes of Brady Tkachuk, Tim Stutzle, Josh Norris, Drake Batherson, Thomas Chabot, Ridly Greig, Shane Pinto and Jake Sanderson are talented offensive players, but that doesn’t mean they can just ignore the defensive part of the game.

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“One of the issues we had in the beginning was we had commitment with the puck but some of these young players didn’t have the same commitment without the puck,” Martin said. “They were playing more like a ‘hoping game’ and hoping to get the puck instead of working at retrieving it and battling to get the puck.

“You look at teams that win championships you’ve got to play on both sides of the puck. If you don’t, you’re not going to win on a regular basis. The league too good.”

I know Martin well enough to know that he was never the type of coach that tried to stifle players creativity, he just wanted a commitment at both ends of the ice when you don’t have the puck. That’s not too much to ask.

“I was out of the game the last couple of years and I saw Florida play a lot,” Martin said. “Two years ago when they won the President’s Trophy I knew they wouldn’t win the playoffs because they didn’t check. They scored goals and they won games 6-5 or 7-3. They won one round and then they got beat in four straight by Tampa.

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“They made a big trade, they changed their coaching staff and they’re probably one of the better teams in the league right now. It took them, and they almost missed the playoffs last year, but they’re a team now that competes and their forwards play the right way. They’ve had success.”

Martin said he has seen progress. He believes the Senators have done a better job managing the game and not getting up in the highs or lows that come with what’s happening on the scoreboard.

The players are learning if they play well defensively they’ll get the kind of results they want on a nightly basis.

“Defence is about commitment, it’s about willingness to pay the price to block shots, battling, being on the right side in the defensive zone and being engaged. It’s more than skill level,” Martin said. “With our team in the last 10 games that’s been a big difference.”

Martin and the Senators hope that trend continues.

bgarrioch@postmedia.com

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