Teams on significant losing streaks meet on Saturday night when the Ottawa Senators host the San Jose Sharks.
The Senators have lost five straight after their 4-1 home loss to the Winnipeg Jets Wednesday night and the Sharks have dropped seven in a row (0-4-3) after a 4-3 overtime defeat Thursday night at Montreal.
Defenseman Thomas Chabot scored Ottawa’s only goal and Linus Ullmark made 35 saves Wednesday. Tim Stutzle assisted on the goal to stretch his point streak to 10 games that encompasses three goals and 11 assists.
“You’re always disappointed when you lose, but I thought it was a step in the right direction for our team,” Senators coach Travis Green said. “I felt like we found our legs a little bit, found our work ethic, forecheck was better, breakout was better, spent a lot of quality time in the offensive zone.”
The Senators were without captain Brady Tkachuk, who has missed two games with a lower-body injury, as well as centers Josh Norris (mid-body injury, missed sixth game) and Shane Pinto (upper-body injury, missed fourth game). Also, defenseman Tyler Kleven left the game in the second period against Winnipeg with a lower-body injury.
“I’m not going to lie, those (Tkachuk, Norris and Pinto) are very big pieces of our team,” Chabot said of the trio. “Very talented centers that give us a lot of depth, so we’re obviously missing them. But as you guys all know, we’re definitely not the first team to go through this this season and we won’t be the last one, probably.”
Tkachuk, Norris and Pinto practiced Friday, but Kleven did not.
The Sharks are also 1-10-3 in their last 14 games and have the NHL’s fewest points with 38.
The Sharks took a 3-2 lead into the third period Thursday thanks to Will Smith’s goal with 2:21 left in the second period.
But Alex Newhook tied it 3-3 for Montreal with 2:22 remaining in regulation and Cole Caufield got the overtime winner for the Canadiens at 3:21.
“We’ve got to learn how to win,” Smith said. “It’s been I don’t know how many times this year, so it adds up and we’ve just got to be better.”
Smith also had an assist while Fabian Zetterlund and Nico Sturm also scored. Alex Wennberg had two assists and Alexandar Georgiev made 29 saves.
“We just can’t break a game open. That’s for sure,” Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky said.
San Jose features rookie center Macklin Celebrini, who was the first overall pick in last June’s NHL Draft. The 18-year-old owns 42 points (18 goals, 24 assists) in 48 games. He is second in rookie scoring behind Canadiens defenseman Lane Hutson, who has 44 points (four goals, 40 assists) in 59 games.
“I feel a little more comfortable, but I still have things to learn,” Celebrini said. “The decision-making, reading the game, I have to work on little details like that that people may not see. It’s hard to prepare to play against the best in the world every night.”
Sharks defenseman Henry Thrun left the game 2:22 into the third period with an undisclosed injury. He is questionable Saturday.
–Field Level Media
