Senators starting to see improvements, consistency

OTTAWA — It seems the Ottawa Senators may have finally discovered the elusive consistency they've been striving for all season.

With a 3-1 win over the Nashville Predators on Saturday night, the Senators have finally hit .500 hockey with a 12-12-2 record and sit two points back of the Tampa Bay Lightning for the final wild-card playoff berth.

There is plenty of hockey left to be played but with a 3-1-1 record in their last five games the Senators finally seem to be hitting their stride.

“The record speaks for itself a little bit,” said head coach Travis Green. “We’ve played some good hockey as of late. We’re still grinding. We’re finding our game again.”

There has been much to like of the Senators past two home games, a 2-1 win over Detroit and Saturday’s win over Nashville. Ottawa took the lead and while both teams pushed back late in the game the Senators held their own and didn’t panic.

Ottawa struggled with adversity early on and spoke of the need to play its game. They finally seem to be able to put their words into action.

“I mean, I think we feel that things are kind of starting to come together, and we're starting to build on games which early in the season wasn't really happening,” admitted Jacob Bernard-Docker.

“It kind of felt like we'd win one, lose one, win one, lose one so it's nice to have little momentum, and guys are feeling good right now.”

The same can’t be said for the Predators (7-15-6) who are now mired in a seven-game losing skid (0-4-3).

If not for Juuse Saros’ 27 saves the game would have been much uglier.

“It’s tough,” said Nashville coach Andrew Brunette. “We’re kind of in one here right now. I thought the effort was there. A couple mistakes there in the second period, and when you’re not scoring goals, they’re hard to recover from.

"So, a little bit of a redundancy, the same old song and dance here a little bit, but you appreciate the effort. The effort is there. We’ll break free at some point.”

The two teams were evenly matched in the first and the game remained scoreless.

Bernard-Docker opened the scoring in the second, netting his first of the year off a great feed from Tim Stutzle.

“Obviously, a really nice play, and I just tried to pick the top corner,” said Bernard-Docker.

Ottawa made it 2-0 when a Claude Giroux shot deflected off Steven Stamkos. There was no denying how deflated the Predators were by the turn of events.

“I can’t speak for everyone, but personally, you literally just have to focus on the next game,” said Luke Schenn.

“You can’t change the past. It seems like a crazy mountain to climb if you start looking at the big picture. So, a day at a time and just try to focus on what you can do to control the outcome and try to play as good as you can individually.”

Nick Cousins made it 3-0 midway through the third before Fedor Svechkov was able to beat Linus Ullmark, who made 37 saves.

Ullmark, who is 3-0-1 in his last four games, finally seems to be playing to the potential the team had been counting on.

"I'm happy with what we're achieving at the moment, as a team, and we win as a team, we lose as a team, and that's something that's the most important part in this locker room at the moment, that it's not a one-man show,” said Ullmark. “It's all about us. It's all about we and it's all about the team.”

The Senators have three more home games before they have to hit the road for the rest of the month with the World Junior Championship taking over Canadian Tire Centre.

Gaining some momentum could go a long way for the Senators.

“Yeah. I mean, obviously we want to win every game,” said Stutzle. “Doesn't matter if you're at home or on the road. But yeah, I think the last few games, we've been playing some good hockey, and deserve those wins.”

The Senators are right back at it on Sunday when they host the New York Islanders.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 7, 2024.