When they needed a big game, the Ottawa Senators simply couldn't deliver.
In their return from the Christmas break, Ottawa faced pretty much a do-or-die situation against a divisional rival and they came out firing blanks.
With the 5-1 win, the Bruins moved into a tie for second place in the division with the Toronto Maple Leafs, with two games in hand on the buds.
The Senators are now 14 points back of the Wild Card, and 15 points in arrears of Boston and Toronto, while showing no positive indications that they are going to break their slump any time soon.
From the net out, the performances just haven't been good enough. Craig Anderson allowed 5 goals on just 23 shots, and his .896 SP is the lowest among all goalies who have appeared in 20 or more games.
Erik Karlsson, still recovering or not from his off-season foot surgery, go beat in a race by Riley Nash. Karlsson was -3 against the Bruins, and has been a plus player in just 2 of the last 19 games, and is -19 in that time after being even upon returning from Sweden. I know +/- isn't the most reliable stat but it illustrates just where the club's struggles are coming from, because a lot of times it has been misplays by the captain that has resulted in the red light going on behind his goalie.
It is kind of reminiscent of when Kyle Turris tried to play through a sprained ankle a couple of years ago, and was ineffective playing on 1 leg, with 8 points in 32 games (and pointless in 15 straight) before finally (and mercifully)being shut down for the season.
That was a painful stretch to watch and so is this one.
Trying to play through it is admirable, but in the grand scheme of things probably hurts the team in the long run because playing with a Norris caliber defenseman for 50 games would have been better than 70% of one (who is quite frankly hurting the team) for 75.
And if he is not being affected by the injury, there are bigger problems for the Senators.
Those are far from being the only problems on this dysfunctional roster, but those two really stand out. If your best players aren't your best players (and I include the struggling Mike Hoffman and Matt Duchene in that group) the Senators aren't going to win much.
In the 19 games since returning from Sweden, which seems to be the point where the Senators fell off the cliff, the only player scoring at any type of expected pace is Mark Stone, whose 13 points leads the club, 5 points more than Derick Brassard and Hoffman's 8.
What a mess.