Ottawa Senators Season Ending On A High

The team is a far cry from the one that opened 2-12-1 in their first 15 outings and holds a record of 17-15-3 since February 13.

“I think we just realized we’re a really fast team, and whenever we play fast and put pucks behind a team and really stay on top of them, we don’t really give the other team a whole lot. That helps everybody. As defenseman, we hold our gaps a little better. It helps our goalies to see less shots. In front of our net, we box out guys, they see the puck a lot better,” explained Chabot on what has changed since the beginning of the season.

Tkachuk re-iterated Chabot’s words, “What we went through the start of the year, and the adversity we faced, the only way to get out was by work ethic – working collectively. That’s what we did. Right now we’re playing with a lot of swagger, a lot of jam. It’s fun to be a part of right now. We’re definitely leaving it all out there. Every day we can look ourselves in the mirror and know we put it all in.”

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Another player who’s become part of the Senators’ young leadership group is Nick Paul. The 26-year old inked a two-year deal in the off-season, and is arguably one of the most improved performers on the team, if the not the entire league.

“This year we didn’t have the best start. We really want to come together as a team. We have all the right pieces in the room. This last stretch here shows how really good we are as a team. We play together. We play the right way. We’re just building and building for next year. We want to hit the ground running next year. This is a great start. We’re learning how to play, learning how to keep leads,” noted Paul.

“We want more. We think we can make a great push if there were more games. It is what it is. We’ve got to build off these games, have a good summer, so we can hit the ground running next year. You go into summer confident. You come to camp. You’re excited. You’ve already built chemistry. You’ve learned how to play together. Early on in the season the games are huge. If we’re up by a goal – when it gets to the third period, we know exactly how to close it out.”

The Senators will likely close out their 56-game campaign anywhere from 27th to as high as 24th in the overall standings. Wherever they land, it’ll be an improvement on their 30th place finish last season.

“I don’t think it we’re looking much at the standings,” said head coach D.J. Smith. “I think it’ll be great to finish ahead of someone. For me the biggest thing is to keep developing these guys and continue to work on what makes us as great as team.”