The Ottawa Senators are roughly a quarter of the way through the season. Going into the season there were high expectations after a strong performance in the playoffs this past spring. Thus far the season has been filled with many ups and downs, but today let’s take a look at the team’s performance as a whole.
The season started with the Ottawa Senators best player, Erik Karlsson, out of the lineup. He missed the first five games of the season, but the Sens went 3-0-2 in those five games. After getting eight of a possible ten points without Karlsson it looked like the Sens could be a contender when he returned. However, after he returned the team began to struggle.
Karlsson’s Return
Despite Karlsson putting up fantastic offensive numbers alongside many of his teammates, the team struggled to hold leads for the remainder of October. The went 2-2-3 to finish up the month of October. Despite falling in five of those seven games they managed points in all but two. As a result, the Sens remained in a good spot in the standings.
Early November And The Duchene Trade
November began with the Sens winning over Detroit followed by a loss to Vegas. After that the Duchene took place and the Sens season was turned on its head. Things got off to a great start with the team sweeping their trip to Sweden with two victories over Colorado. Duchene’s start in Ottawa was looking great and the team looked even better. However, since then everything that could go wrong has gone wrong.
A Six Game Losing Streak
Since returning from Sweden the Ottawa Senators have lost six straight. They have picked up just one point in that time and have plummeted through the standings. There strong start has kept them within striking distance of a playoff spot, but with each passing game they fall further out of contention. Now they prepare to leave for a seven game road trip that could make or break their season.
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Recovering
Thus far the Ottawa Senators have had a poor season. They had a relatively strong start, but squandered it in the past two weeks. This is a team that has no excuse for not making the playoffs. The Atlantic Division is weak after Tampa Bay and Toronto, meaning the third spot is up for grabs. If the Sens miss the playoffs it means they were worse than Montreal, Detroit, or Boston. All of those teams should be significantly worse than the Ottawa Senators.
So far the Sens season has been poor, but it’s still early and there’s a decent chance that they could recover. However, if they want to make the playoffs the recovery needs to start soon.