'Definitely frustrating:' Sens skid hits six with loss to Canucks
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The Ottawa Senators' losing streak was extended to six games with a 6-4 loss to the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday.
The Senators, who last won on Oct. 24, have slipped to 30th in the league standings and are currently seven points back of a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
Tuesday's loss - their third straight on home ice - came despite Ottawa outshooting the Canucks 41-28 and going a perfect three-for-three on the penalty kill.
"It's definitely a tough one to swallow tonight because we did so many good things," captain Brady Tkachuk said. "The last bunch of games here, we've been playing well. We just need to get over that hump. Like I've been saying, we have all the belief in the world that we're going to do it, that we're going to get it done. It's definitely frustrating, though."
"We're not getting bounces," forward Drake Batherson added. "We had a few slide through the crease, and then it seems like they get one chance and it goes in.
"I feel like we're playing pretty good. We had a lot of shots, a lot of chances, but the bounces aren't going our way. But I'm sure it will turn around here soon."
The loss came one day after Senators general manager Pierre Dorion reiterated his faith in head coach D.J. Smith amid the team's disappointing start.
“We just didn’t get the job done," Smith said of the latest defeat. "We looked very confident in the second period. We looked very confident in the first period, but then when you get into the third period, we just didn’t make the plays we needed to make. We turned pucks over and we gave them two goals.
“We probably could have scored four or five in the second and we didn’t. We have to stick to it if you want to get out of this.”
The Senators will next face the red-hot New Jersey Devils on the road Thursday night. The Devils are headed in the opposite direction of the Senators, having won seven straight games.