'There’s just no excuses:' Sens healthy as playoff push hits high gear
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The Ottawa Senators could have a number of players back in their lineup for their game on Saturday against the San Jose Sharks.
Captain Brady Tkachuk knows the final stretch of the season is do-or-die time for the team.
“There’s just no excuses," Tkachuk said after practice on Friday. "There’s a standard I want to play with and I know everybody in this room wants to play to the best of their abilities."
"Tomorrow, if we have everybody back, expect everybody to be ready to go from the start ... treat every game like it’s a Game 7 at this point of the year.”
The Senators are riding a five-game losing streak into their matchup with the Sharks on Saturday that has caused the team to slip out of the playoff picture in the Eastern Conference.
At 62 points (29-25-4), Ottawa sits four points behind the Columbus Blue Jackets (66 points) and Detroit Red Wings (66 points) for the wild-card slots.
The Senators are fighting to end an eight-year playoff drought this season, dating back to the team making the Eastern Conference Final in 2017.
Ottawa rose to as high as third in the Atlantic Division last month, but now sit 10 points back of the Lightning for that spot with the Detroit Red Wings also between them.
Head coach Travis Green believed his team looked "rusty" in Saturday's loss to the Montreal Canadiens, while players stressed the importance of finding wins now as the March 7 trade deadline looms.
“We’ve just got to be better,” leading scorer Tim Stutzle said. “It’s frustrating, but we can’t get too frustrated. We’ve just got to keep playing and be better.
“It’s as easy as that. We’ve just got to be better as a whole group and we’ve got to bear down.”
“The standings are so tight right now, every game matters, every point,” defenceman Jake Sanderson added. “We have to have that next game mentality, winning the day.
“It doesn’t matter what you do, keep going and put your head down.”
Reinforcements may be here for the Senators
While Tkachuk has already told reporters he plans to play on Saturday, he may be joined by fellow forwards Josh Norris and Shane Pinto, per TSN's Claire Hanna.
Norris has missed the last six games with an upper-body injury. The 25-year-old has 19 goals and 31 points in 50 games this season.
Norris said he took a “really good step today, take it from there and see how tomorrow feels,” after practice on Friday.
“I’ve thought about it a lot actually," he said. "Obviously there’s not a ton you can do when you’re hurt. Think about hockey 24/7. I’ve pictured myself going back. I have 24 games left. It’s really intense and good hockey. These are the types of games you don’t want to miss. Happy I’m feeling good again.”
Pinto, 24, has 11 goals and 22 points in 46 games this season. He has missed the last four games with an upper-body injury. The fifth-year player had 12 points in 14 games before he went down with the injury on Feb. 4 against the Tampa Bay Lightning.