Tkachuk, Green blast Senators effort vs. Stars: 'Just embarrassing hockey'
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The Ottawa Senators opened 2025 with a 4-2 loss to the Dallas Stars and an effort that did not sit well team captain Brady Tkachuk or head coach Travis Green.
The Senators held a 2-1 lead after 20 minutes Thursday, but the Stars took the lead ahead of the third period and dominated Ottawa from there, holding a 9-2 shot advantage in the final frame and adding an insurance tally with just over six minutes left.
“The second half was embarrassing. Just embarrassing hockey. It’s unacceptable,” Tkachuk said post-game. “You’ve got to give credit to them, they played well.
“The only thing we can control is ourselves and individual decisions. That’s just not the way we play. Thank god we play tomorrow. We can move on from this one. A lot of lessons to be learned in this one, and every shift.”
The loss comes as the Senators continue to fight to hold the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference. Ottawa will visit the St. Louis Blues on Friday.
“We got what we deserved,” Green added. “We weren’t good enough. Our team didn’t play very well. We didn’t play 60 minutes, our power play wasn’t very good, we weren’t sharp with the puck, we took a lot of penalties and I just didn’t think we were sharp.
“Tonight wasn’t good enough and our players know it. We had guys who didn’t play up to our standard. It wasn’t one or two, I thought 70 per cent of our team didn’t play well enough.”
The Senators (19-16-2) sit one point ahead of the Pittsburgh Penguins to hold the last playoff spot with two games in hand. The team dropped to 9-10-1 on the road this season with Thursday's loss.