If there’s one thing that’s consistent about the Ottawa Senators’ season, it’s their inconsistency. The Senators beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 5-4 Saturday afternoon – becoming the first team to beat the Bolts this season – and they’re now a thoroughly mediocre 3-2-0 on the season. Ottawa began the season with a win, but they’ve been unable to string together even a modest two-game win streak since then.
Heck, the Senators haven’t been consistent on a period-to-period basis, let alone game-to-game. To wit: their now-legendary 8-7 overtime win over the L.A. Kings on Monday. In that game, the Sens began with a 2-0 deficit, then scored five of the next eight goals to pull into a tie by the second intermission. From there, Ottawa gave up the first goal of the third frame, then scored two goals in a row to take their first lead of the night, then allowed a late goal to the Kings to send the game to OT, and finally won it on Josh Norris’ second goal of the game.
The Senators have won a 3-1 game, and lost a 3-1 game. They’ve blown the doors off on offense a couple of times, but have also had their offense stall, producing just a single goal in both of their losses this year. It was their mascot Spartacat’s birthday in Saturday’s tilt against the Lightning, and the best birthday present it could get would be consistent production on offense and better ‘D’. Sens coach Travis Green hasn’t been able to coax out the same performance from his team, and that has to change in a hurry.
The Sens were picked by many – this writer included – to be a playoff team in the Atlantic Division this year. But THN’s annual Yearbook picked Ottawa to finish second-last in the Atlantic this season. Clearly, there are two distinct opinions about the Senators, and thus far this year, they’ve shown they can be at both ends of the win/loss spectrum.
Right now, there’s no predicting what the Sens will do from day-to-day and moment-to-moment, and if Ottawa is going to get back into the Stanley Cup post-season for the first time since 2017, they’re going to have to become more reliable in their efforts. A win percentage of a little more than .500 is not going to cut it, and the Senators have to improve in a hurry.
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