Senators Stinking it up at Worst Possible Time

“We just weren’t good enough tonight. Flat out, we had a lot of players that weren’t good enough.”

You think, Travis Green?

On nights like Tuesday’s, the Ottawa Senators head coach surely must be able to closely relate with his cross-province counterpart in troubled Toronto, Craig Berube.

Berube’s heavy crown is worn on almost an every-night basis. Green’s conundrum pops up only occasionally but after Tuesday’s ‘effort’ in South Florida it’s becoming apparent it pops up at the worst possible times.

After the loss to the heavily undermanned and out-of-the-playoff-picture Panthers, Green can count three stinkers in a row. A stinker in Sunrise; a stinker in Tampa; and a stinker at home against Pittsburgh.

For a team hovering within two points of a playoff spot, and ample opportunities lying in its path the past seven days, Ottawa couldn’t summon much spice and pepper. The team’s just been plain bad.

“Disappointing. We talked about the importance of a good start in this building (versus the Panthers), and that was the opposite,” said Green. “We just looked flat. To be honest, I thought we looked flat. We didn’t have a lot of energy. That’s the best way I could put it.”

Hard to imagine this. I mentioned opportunity because as luck would have it, the table has been consistently set in this tight playoff race for Ottawa. Detroit has stumbled in such a big way that the Red Wings faithful will be calling for General Manager Steve Yzerman’s noggin if the team plummets out of another playoff picture. Another one on Ottawa’s to be chased list, the New York Islanders, have dropped two straight including a decimating 8-3 loss to Pittsburgh two nights ago. Meantime, Rick Tocchet’s Philly Flyers have been dynamite as of late and have crawled back into the run for the final rung, but they too lost on Tuesday, and stand tied with Detroit and Ottawa, two points behind that last wild-card slot held currently by Columbus.

The Jackets?

They’ve witnessed four straight defeats in the last week.

It’s really come down to six teams – Ottawa, Detroit, the Isles, Flyers, Jackets and Washington for the one realistically remaining entry ticket. The problem for the chasers is that the field – within the last week – has narrowed.

With Boston rolling out four consecutive victories, you can forget about catching the Bruins. Pittsburgh’s won two straight and are now a clear long-shot to miss out regarding the post-season.

So, there’s the math, more or less.

So, here’s the issue with Ottawa, more to the point.

The team’s heavily counted on ‘stars’ have been no-shows (one of them in the literal sense).

Brady Tkachuk has had – and you can count them on pretty well one hand – minimal impactful Tkachuk-like showings this season. In the club’s most important game of the season, Tuesday in Florida, Tkachuk was a shadow. Not a dominant physical presence and neither a net-front force nor an opportunist with the puck on his stick.

It appears as though either he is not disclosing a nagging injury (a common occurrence at this point, league wide) that’s got him in this malaise, or he’s disinterested. The chat boards, of course, have Brady counting down the days until he can sign or force a trade and join brother Matthew in Florida.

Regardless of where he is at, he is not where this team needs him to be at.

And we’ll wrap it up by beating the dead horse.

Linus Ullmark.

The eight-million-dollar backstop was nowhere to be seen this past Saturday afternoon in Tampa. In a game of great necessity, the veteran, former Vezina winner, essentially and reportedly told Green he ‘needed a rest’ and wasn’t available to start.

This was a stinger, especially after Ullmark’s outstanding showing in the previous loss to Pittsburgh two days earlier. Backup James Reimer was called on and was not particularly good in the 4-2 defeat.

Ullmark was ready to go though Tuesday in Sunrise . . . or was he?

Eight seconds in, noted sniper Noah Gregor was gifted the puck in front of the net and potted it for his third of the season.

Five goals later, in under 15 minutes of play, Ullmark was given even more rest by the coach as Reimer was called in.

Ottawa is now home for the next five straight.

This could become a blessing, or a nightmare.

And one thing’s for sure – if the team’s stars don’t get their collective games together, the disaster that was the previous three games, continues.

SENATORS WEEK AHEAD:

Thursday, April 2: Buffalo at Ottawa (7 pm)

Saturday, April 4: Minnesota at Ottawa (1 pm)

Sunday, April 5: Carolina at Ottawa (5 pm)

Tuesday, April 7: Tampa at Ottawa (7 pm)

Thursday, April 9: Florida at Ottawa (7 pm)

thegrossgame@yahoo.com

Photo: Courtesy CBC