Pittsburgh @ Ottawa preview
Canadian Tire Centre
Last Meeting ( Oct 28, 2023 ) Ottawa 5, Pittsburgh 2
A coaching change hasn't provided the intended spark for the Ottawa Senators, who have lost six straight games going into a home game Saturday against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
The Senators have lost two in a row since Jacques Martin replaced D.J. Smith as coach.
They are coming off a 6-4 loss Thursday against the Colorado Avalanche in which they blew a two-goal lead by allowing four unanswered goals.
"It's hard to look at positives right now," Ottawa captain Brady Tkachuk said. "It's a pretty (crappy) feeling. Don't think I've ever felt worse in my life. It's not fun right now."
Tkachuk, who led his team with nine shots against Colorado but had no points and was minus-2, feels a strong sense of responsibility. He leads his team with 14 goals and is fifth with 21 points, but he has only a goal and an assist and is minus-7 over his past eight games.
"At the end of the day, it kind of starts with me as a leader," he said. "I've got to do a better job individually. I'm not there. I'm not playing where I need to be playing, and I feel like it's trickling down. It's on me."
Martin let his team off the hook by pointing to a few positives from Thursday's loss.
"In the second and third period, I really liked what I saw. ... We did some good things," he said. "We were better on the forecheck and moving the puck."
It was Colorado's star who did in the Senators Thursday. Nathan MacKinnon had four goals, including two in that four-goal run.
After facing MacKinnon, the Senators must contend with MacKinnon's good friend and fellow Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia native Sidney Crosby.
Crosby, at 36, continues to be Pittsburgh's heartbeat, its captain and best player.
"You can look at different things, but as a player, as a whole, he's still No. 1," Penguins defenseman and another future Hall of Famer Erik Karlsson told The Athletic.
"He has been since at least I entered the league, and I would take him with my first choice if I started a team."
Thursday, Crosby scored Pittsburgh's only regulation goal and the only goal in a shootout to lift his team to a 2-1 win over the Carolina Hurricanes for its fourth win in five games.
He leads the team and ranks in the top five in the NHL with 19 goals, to go along with 15 assists, putting him on pace to finish with 50 goals and 90 points. In a career highlighted by three Stanley Cups, Crosby has reached the 50-goal mark just once, when he was 22.
As Karlsson noted, Crosby also continues to play a strong 200-foot game and see the ice at a level reserved for the elite.
"He knows how to adapt in games and in situations," Karlsson said.
Crosby noted that it wasn't just him who adapted against Carolina. In a tight game -- and with the Penguins going 0-for-5 on the power play, including one in overtime -- the team found the right mix of strong defense with a continued push offensively at even strength.
"We did a good job (of staying patient), and we still generated chances with that," Crosby said.
--Field Level Media