Senators humbled by ugly loss to Canucks: 'It was a lesson learned'
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The Ottawa Senators allowed five first-period goals Tuesday in an eventual 6-3 loss to the Vancouver Canucks.
Senators starting goaltender Anton Forsberg was pulled with just over three minutes left in the first frame after allowing four goals on 13 shots, with Joonas Korpisalo allowing a goal less than a minute after taking over before finishing with 11 saves.
“It was a lesson learned about how hard you have to compete,” Senators interim head coach Jacques Martin said. “We just need to do things quicker. We need to be harder on pucks, and it's not one or two players. We can't sustain.
"We win one game and then we revert to where the team was before. … We have to increase, raise our level of compete.”
The loss dropped Ottawa to 3-4-0 under Martin, who replaced D.J. Smith on Dec. 18. The Senators continue to sit last in the Eastern Conference with 28 points through 33 games this season.
Ottawa had won three of its past four entering Tuesday's game, which got out of hand quickly.
“You're not going to win any games in the NHL giving up five goals in the first period, plain and simple," Senators defenceman Thomas Chabot said. "Especially not against a team like Vancouver that's having a lot of success this year.”
Tuesday's loss marked the first of a four-game western road trip, with games against the Seattle Kraken, Edmonton Oilers and Calgary Flames still ahead for Ottawa.
“It's very frustrating right now but I believe in this group,” forward Claude Giroux said. “We have the potential to win 10 in a row if we do it the whole game, we're consistent in it and we got everybody doing it.
"I strongly believe we can get on a roll.”