If the Ottawa Senators are looking for inspiration about what a midseason coaching change can do, they should look no further than the Vancouver Canucks.
The Senators fired their head coach two weeks ago and are now enjoying a modest resurgence under Jacques Martin, much like the Canucks have experienced since replacing Bruce Boudreau with Rick Tocchet midway through last season.
The Senators kick off their longest road trip of the season on Tuesday with a visit to Vancouver as they hope to avoid a repeat of a mid-December meltdown that led to the firing of coach D.J. Smith.
The last time the Senators went out of town for an extended period they lost five straight. The trip began with a 4-2 loss to St. Louis on Dec. 14 and ended a week later with a 6-4 loss to Colorado under interim head coach Martin, who took over from Smith.
The Senators have had a bit of a revival under Martin, winning two of their last three games.
“I am really pleased with the progress we have made,” said Martin at Sunday’s practice. “We have proven we can compete with the best teams. We just have to all be on the same page.
“My job when I came on was to get them to focus on the process, not really focus on the end result. I am a firm believer that if you play the right way, you have a better chance of winning.”
On Sunday night, Anton Forsberg was superb in making 45 saves as Ottawa beat the Buffalo Sabres 5-1.
Ottawa forward Thomas Chabot had two assists against the Sabres in his return to the lineup after missing 12 games with a fractured tibia.
Five different Senators scored as Ottawa improved to 3-3 under Martin.
The Senators also announced Sunday that Steve Staios will drop the interim tag from the general manager position.
Ottawa will play five games in 10 days beginning with a difficult clash with the Canucks, who like the Senators are going through a long playoff drought. Vancouver has missed the playoffs seven of the last eight years, while the Senators have gone six straight seasons without making it to the postseason.
But Vancouver knows better than most what a difference a coaching change can make. The Canucks are 43-22-7 in 72 games since Tocchet took over a year ago, and this season are off to one of their best starts in franchise history.
They have won seven of their last 10 and will be well-rested against Ottawa, coming off a five-day holiday break.
In the Canucks’ last game, Philadelphia scored three goals in a span of 2:06 in the second period to break open a scoreless contest, and the Flyers held on to win 4-1 on Thursday.
Teddy Blueger scored, and Casey DeSmith had 21 saves for the Canucks, who had registered at least a point in each of their previous nine games (7-0-2).
“We weren’t invested,” Tocchet said. “They came at us, and we didn’t have any push.
“It’s going to get harder and harder. This is a learning lesson, you know, we just got to be more invested. It’s not even about the loss because there were some parts of our game that wasn’t good obviously.”
This is the second and final game between the teams with the Canucks winning the first 5-2 on Nov. 9 in Ottawa.
–Field Level Media
