Ottawa Senators: False Start

The puck was dropped, and so was the game plan.

From a strategy of dogged puck pursuit combined with patient puck support, to a reality of reactive play combined with hap hazard positioning.  On the back of solid goaltending the Sens avoided embarrassment in the home opener, but come game two, behind enemy lines in Toronto, the poor play of the Senators skaters was too much to cloak for embattled Pascal Leclaire.

Not only the scoreboard, which left the Sens -5 in just two GP, was unkind.  The shot clock was equally unflattering, leaving the Sens a combined -30.  Another number that fails to flatter, 0 PP percent (0-10).  So much for a renewed man advantage, a renewal that came at the cost of Anton Volchenkov's defensive acumen.  Oddly, the loss of Volchy did little to hurt the PK, which operated at a reasonable 80 percent (8-10). 

But the number that has to most worry the Senators is 0.580.  That is the 82 game winning percentage a team must achieve in order to expect to make the postseason.

The fact is, this number only increases with every loss.  As the opportunities to earn points diminishes, the required W percent increases.  With 80 games remaining before the start of the postseason, the Sens must now win at a rate of 0.600 if they expect to be in the mix when it does come.  For all intents and purposes the Sens, by losing the first two games of the season, are playing an 80 game regular season while the remaining teams in the N.E. division have the benefit of an 81, or in the case of the 2-0 Leafs, an 82 game schedule.

But a two game win less streak is hardly an anomaly in the world of NHL hockey.  Nor is a three, four, or even five game losing streak (Sens had 3 of them last season), so to prognosticate the future, from a position of weakness, as is the case for the Sens, is a fools game.  Nobody believes the Sens woke up on opening day suddenly having forgotten how to play the game at the NHL level.  But rapid improvement and mounting pressure do not make good bedfellows.  Like it or not, that's the situation facing the Senators roster and they have no one but themselves to blame, or look to for improvement.

Clouston has the team getting back to the drawing board, and tonight, versus the dynamic Washington Capitals, the Sens will take their (next) first step toward making the postseason.

80 games to go and counting...down.

GN