Maybe a little rust is to be expected after having a full seven day break in the middle of the season, but for the Senators there was not much of a reset as they continued a lot of negative trends into the second half that plagued them in the first half.

After a pretty decent first period, the Sens imploded in the second, with turnovers, bad goaltending and mental errors the order of the day.

Sometimes things just happen, and sometimes outright mistakes lead to chances or goals against, and the Senators are doing more to shoot themselves in the foot on a nightly basis than it is the opposition taking it to them.

Case in point, yet another too many men on the ice penalty, their eighth of the season. Add insult to that injury when trailing by 2 in the waning minutes, pulling your goalie and then making such a mockery of a line change that you have only 4 skaters for a few seconds before adding a fifth and still playing a man short for 10-15 seconds before finally getting the right number of skaters on the ice.

You don't have to be a rocket scientist, but being able to count to 6 on a regular basis should be a prerequisite for being behind (or on for that matter) an NHL bench.

Occurrences like that happening so often are inexcusable and gives credence to those who already view the franchise in a lesser light.

Combine those mental mistakes with a goaltender who is struggling to find any semblance of his "A" game in Craig Anderson and it has the Senators exactly where they deserve to be in the standings at this point, with not a flicker of hope that things are going to get better. Anderson didn't look ready, and even the Vladimir Tarasenko tip that would have been a tough stop to make, he didn't have himself in any kind of stance that would give him any chance to make the save.

The offense wasn't much better, managing just 21 shots on Carter Hutton and scoring only once, a tally by Bobby Ryan.

I said yesterday in the preview that I think fans at least want to be entertained and be shown that the team still cares, win or lose, and that wasn't the case last night.

There wasn't much positive to be taken from this loss. Maybe you can blame the break, and the rust winning out over rest, but there have been far too many excuses for the Senators being where they are this season, and not enough response to correct them.

We will see what they can muster up for the Leafs on Hockey Day in Canada Saturday night, because those excuses are wearing thin.

Join the Discussion: » 51 Comments » Post New Comment

» Goodbye, and good luck!

» Can Colin White fill the #2C role as early as next year?

» Boucher staying put, at least for now

» Boucher Day

» Sens fall to #4 in draft lottery