Losing five consecutive games to end a month and falling out of a playoff position can shake a team's confidence. For the Ottawa Senators, it happened in February. Now, March has arrived for the Senators with the first game being against the San Jose Sharks to close out a three-game home stand.
A new spark and sense of confidence needs to be found by the Senators to climb back up in the standings before a potential possibility of falling down even further.
Senators begin March by hosting Sharks
The Senators host the Sharks at Canadian Tire Centre with puck drop scheduled for 7 p.m. ET. Tonight is the second and final meeting this season between the two teams.
Last game against the Winnipeg Jets was another brutal loss for the Senators with losing 4-1. The Jets scored the first three goals of the game, which included two goals in the first period in a 1:17 span. Thomas Chabot scored the lone goal in the game for the Senators, and Tim Stutzle extended his point streak to 10 games.
As for the Sharks, they come into tonight's game with the worst record in the NHL of 15-36-9. The Sharks have lost 13 of their last 14 games with the most recent game being a 4-3 overtime loss to the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday night.
Now that Mikael Granlund was traded by the Sharks to the Dallas Stars, rookie Macklin Celebrini and William Eklund are tied for the most points on the Sharks with 42, and Tyler Toffoli leads the Sharks with 21 goals. Toffoli is the only 20-goal scorer on the Senators.
When the Senators and Sharks met in San Jose on Nov. 28, the Senators won the game 4-3, even with having 11 shots on goal for the entire game. Adam Gaudette scored two goals and Stutzle recorded three assists in the game, and Linus Ullmark made 36 saves to earn the win.
Yesterday after practice, Senators captain Brady Tkachuk said that he would return to the lineup tonight. Tkachuk missed the first two Senators games following the 4 Nations Face-Off.