Travis Green was pretty blunt speaking after the Senators gave up the game-winning goal to Joal Eriksson Ek with just 24 seconds to play in Saturday afternoon’s loss to the Minnesota Wild.
After speaking about his team’s overall effort, one thing was on the coach’s mind. “It’s unfortunate that we didn’t get two points, never mind one,” said the Senators coach, a sentiment he repeated once more after asked what was working well for the Sens to outshoot the Wild 36-25.
With some more time to think about the loss, Senators stars Tim Stützle and Jake Sanderson touched on it following an optional practice on Sunday morning after the team arrived in Winnipeg ahead of a Monday night matchup against the Jets.
“I think there’s been a handful of games lately that have kind of just slipped away from us the past few weeks,” said Sanderson.
“But I think the message is we can’t be sorry for ourselves right now. Standings are really tight, so you’ve got to keep grinding. It’s that time of year. So obviously a big one tomorrow the end off the road trip right.”
The Sens will enter Monday’s game 3-7-0 in their last 10 games, their worst 10-game stretch of the season. Despite that, like Sanderson alluded to, the team is 14-13-4 and just a couple of wins away from a playoff spot in the jam-packed Eastern Conference playoff race.
“I think we’ve been playing some good hockey games,” said Tim Stützle, whose diving effort in the second period on Saturday marked his third straight game with a goal.
“Of course, we’ve been shooting ourselves in the foot, like I’ve said before, but I think we’ve liked most parts of our game, and yeah, we’ve just got to keep improving, keep getting better every day, and we’ll get the wins.”
The Senators will meet the Jets for their third appearance on Prime Monday Night Hockey at 7:30 on Monday.
Reigning Hart and Vezina Trophy winner Connor Hellebuyck returned earlier than expected from arthroscopic knee surgery during the Jets’ 5-1 win over Washington on Saturday night, making him an option for Winnipeg in goal on Monday.
