The Senators continue their road trip at Barclay's Center in Brooklyn looking to snap a long losing streak that has reached 7 games.
The last two games, both 2-1 losses have been close, but the team still hasn't given the impression that they deserve to win a game.
Whether it is game plan, coaching decisions, players on the limp, or just a group of players looking for their way, the Senators need to turn the corner and do it soon. There are plenty of reasons and explanations for their lull in play, and many or all of them could be contributing factors. No matter how many ways you dissect it, the bottom line is that they simply aren't playing well enough and when they are playing well in stretches, they can't execute with enough consistency to win games.
The Islanders are among the best teams in the league right now, so the job doesn't get any easier. This is a rematch from Saturday's 2-1 Islanders win at Canadian Tire Centre, where Ottawa outshot and probably outchanced their opponent in what might have been their best game of a bad stretch, but didn't have any sense of urgency until after Matt Duchene scored late to bring the Sens within 1.
Craig Anderson will get his chance to stop the streak, after Mike Condon got the start in Montreal and didn't get the run support he needed.
The Islanders have allowed just 3 goals in their last 2 games, as part of a 4 game winning streak, but have a tendency to allow a lot of goals. I don't want to sound like a broken record, but if there is an opportunity for a breakout game for the Senators, it could be tonight. Or that might be wishful thinking for Senators fans, who are desperate for a win.
Hopefully not as desperate as the team they root for, because they need to show some intensity bordering on desperation to snap out of this funk.