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The Ottawa Senators have plenty to figure out in the coming days, weeks and months.
With the Senators passing the quarter-pole mark with Monday’s home game against the Calgary Flames, they’ve got 61 games left in the regular season.
Sure, it’s a lot of time, but when it comes down to the math of who makes the playoffs and who doesn’t, every point can matter.
Heading into a three-game western trip that has stops in San Jose, Los Angeles and Anaheim, the Senators are putting the time in to fine tune even the most basic of details. They need to be better in 5-on-5 hockey and they want to step it up with their special teams — on the power play and while playing short-handed.
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We’ll turn our attention to the power play.
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The Senators, who started the season playing particularly well with the man advantage, have cooled off a bit, but they’re still top 5.
Through their five-game losing streak heading into Monday’s game, Ottawa was 5-for-18 on the power play. Two of those goals came in Saturday’s 4-3 loss to Vancouver. However, they did come up empty on a five-minute man-advantage early in the game when Canucks defenceman Quinn Hughes was kicked out of the game on a boarding penalty.
With the game scoreless at the time, a goal would have given the Senators momentum — something they haven’t gotten much of early in recent games.
Still, with a 28.8% conversion rate, the Senators (heading into Monday) were fifth-best in the NHL, trailing Winnipeg (33.9%), New Jersey (31.0), Colorado (30.3) and Vegas (29.6). For comparison’s sake, St. Louis was last at 16.7%.
“The power play is definitely a big part of the game,” winger Drake Batherson said. “It can run hot and cold. There are months where the power play is going to win you four or five games. Then, there are other months where it’s just not as sharp and you have to find a way to win other ways.”
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The Senators have plenty of firepower — with Batherson playing alongside Brady Tkachuk, Tim Stutzle, Josh Norris and Jake Sanderson — on their first-team power-play unit.
So far, they’ve stepped well ahead of a disappointing 2023-24 season during which the Senators ranked 18th with a 20.1% conversion rate. The previous season, they were 14th league-wide at 21.7%.
Tkachuk, who already has five power-play goals, is coming off seasons of 11 and 12. Batherson, who has four power-play goals, had 14 in 2022-23 and seven a season ago. Stutzle had 10 in 2022-23, but had just one last season (with one so far this year). Norris had 16 in 2021-22, but fell to just two last year.
“It’s a place where I thrive, I enjoy being out there and trying to make a difference,” Batherson said. “Getting 14 was awesome, I’m trying to do that or better this season.”
It’s not as simple as always throwing the puck at the net and hoping it goes in. There are X’s and O’s involved, schemes that allow players to find soft spots in the defence, usually by quickly passing the puck around.
“There are times where you step over the boards and you feel like you’re going to score,” Batherson said. “If you’re playing good 5-on-5, it usually translates over to the power play. A few years ago, I think we clicked at 50% for a month. It comes in waves. You’re trying to get into the high 20s, low 30% range.”
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If the power play gets rolling, it helps with the confidence where players aren’t hesitant to make cross-ice passes or throw the puck into tight spots.
“We need to play like we were at the start of the year,” Stutzle said. “Pucks were going in, they’re not right now. Confidence is a big part of that. We’ve been on a losing streak so maybe the confidence is not as high.
“You need to make smart decisions with the puck. We’ve been giving it away too much. If we can get this going, it’s going to be a good power play.”
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MISTAKES HAPPEN
Defenceman Thomas Chabot said the Senators are making too many mistakes; the key is bouncing back.
“Hockey is a game of mistakes, but it’s how we respond and react to those mistakes,” he said. “When times get tough, sometimes you don’t get the bounces or you make a mistake and the puck ends up in the back of your net.
“We believe we’ll get through this. It’s about digging in. No one likes losing, nobody’s happy. We have a great group of guys, a bunch of different personalities. We’re pushing each other trying to accomplish something.
“You’re trying to build every night. Some nights it doesn’t go your way, other nights it does.”
ICE CHIPS
Senators coach Travis Green bristled at the thought of just firing the puck toward the net with no traffic in front of the goalie. “We don’t just throw pucks at the net. We want to have the puck in the O-zone,” he said. “We don’t want to be a shot volume team just to be a shot volume team. I’d rather not shoot the puck if there’s no one there.” … After blocking a shot against Vancouver on Saturday, defenceman Artem Zub is facing an extended absence with a fractured foot.
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