The Ottawa Senators hit the reset button on Sunday, meeting as a team to go over their Game 1 loss to Carolina on Saturday afternoon. Ottawa was shut out for just the second time all season in an extremely physical 2-0 loss.
“We know it’s going to be a really tight series,” Tim Stützle told the media. “We’ve got to find a way to put one in the back of the net.”
Stützle said that he wasn’t happy with his first two periods and felt he could do more to help the team generate offence.
“Speaking about myself, I think especially in the first two periods we were kind of throwing too many pucks to the net and not really holding onto it, not really creating a lot of possession time, and that’s my game. I’ve got to hold onto pucks, make those little plays, and that’s when I’m at my best,” said Stützle, who led the Senators with 34 goals and 83 points in the regular season.
“I think especially in the third, I think we created way more. Obviously in the third, the power play was really good there, the first two [periods] it was awful, so just kind of finding a way of getting through the series. I think we’ve got a lot more to give.”
Travis Green said there was no further update on Artem Zub, who left the game early in the third period after delivering a solid hit on Seth Jarvis. Zub played only 7:44 before leaving, forcing the Senators to finish the game with five defenders.
“I thought our passing wasn’t as crisp, but I think both teams do a good job of rushing the pass,” said Green. “With Zubby out of the lineup, that probably changed a little bit of the dynamic, but both teams are good on the forecheck. It’s not going to be pretty all the time.”
“Obviously, that’s a big loss when he goes out,” added Green. “Someone’s got to step up and play those minutes against top lines, and [assistant coach Nolan Baumgartner’s] got to juggle the D, but I thought they did a pretty good job back there.”
“Seems like it’s the theme of our season,” said Thomas Chabot about the injury. Chabot logged 26:39 of time on ice in the loss.
“It’s that time of the year. It’s playoffs, you’re going to need every single guy. But at the same time, if you’re going to miss some guys, then the other ones that are on the ice have to step up and fill in and do the job.”
Zub was the only player that left the physical affair, but with the Hurricanes throwing 57 hits — almost triple their average of 20 from the regular season — everyone was feeling it.
“Last year was the same thing from Toronto, obviously a bit more last night… we knew that was coming,” said Chabot.
“And I thought we did a good job. Until what, the first 10 minutes of the game, I don’t think we allowed a shot. We knew the physicality was going to be there, it’s playoff hockey and everybody expected it. And you know what? They’re going to try and do the same thing tomorrow night and we’re going to be ready for it once again.”
Stützle said the Senators, who logged 39 hits, could do more to put similar pressure on the Canes. “I think our forecheck, it was tough for us, especially forwards, to get hits, really,” said Stützle.
“We were kind of a little disconnected maybe, and that’s where we couldn’t really get on the forecheck, and the dumps weren’t good enough. Their goalie played a lot of pucks, so we’ve got to find a way to make it a little harder on them and get to our forecheck game, because I think that’s what we’re really good at, and we didn’t really do that enough.”
The Senators will look to bounce back and even the series on Monday at 7:30. Chabot said that he had “100 per cent confidence” in the group to have a better showing.
“We hold each other accountable and we know that there’s a lot of guys in this room that want to do better and play better, and we’re going to bring it tomorrow,” said Chabot.
“And we know, like I said, it’s a hell of a hockey team that [we’re playing], they finished first for a reason, but I mean, at the end of the day, we know we can compete and balance with everybody, and that’s what we want to show tomorrow night again.”
“Both teams are going to be persistent with their game, and there’s going to be a lot of singles hit compared to home runs,” said Green.
“I think we have a better game in us than we did last night, and you hope to improve from game to game.”
