OTTAWA - It may be early in the season, but the Ottawa Senators can鈥檛 afford to fall back into bad habits.
With a 2-4-0 record the Senators are less than thrilled with the first 10 days of their season.
Inconsistency, cheating for offence and an inability to play a full 60-minute effort is leading to early frustration for head coach Travis Green.
鈥淎 lot of things we took pride in last year we were good, we weren鈥檛 good (Saturday),鈥 said Green.
Far too often this season the Senators have had breakdowns that have allowed opponents to get back into games and Ottawa has failed to respond.
鈥淚t鈥檚 how do you keep momentum, how do you stop momentum,鈥 Green said. 鈥淗ow do you keep the lead? How do you play with the lead? What鈥檚 your mindset? Are you cheating for offence? Are you cheating? Are you on the right side of the puck?
"There鈥檚 a certain style of play that we want. There鈥檚 been a lot of talk about creating more offence, but it does not mean cheating for offence.鈥
It took a while last season but Ottawa finally started to show signs of maturing and managing the game better and were rewarded with its first playoff appearance in seven seasons.
Players acknowledged they can ill afford to take a step back, no matter how early it is in the season.
鈥淚 think it鈥檚 been the 鈥楳O鈥 the whole year, kind of just not consistent throughout the game,鈥 said Shane Pinto. 鈥淔ive-minute spurts, I don鈥檛 know we just take our foot off the gas and the team just always seems to convert on those chances. Yeah, just got to clean it up and be better."
Pinto believes some of the breakdowns are a result of immaturity, which is concerning considering last year鈥檚 progress.
鈥淚 think you鈥檝e got to realize you鈥檝e got to play a full 60 minutes if you want to win in this league,鈥 Pinto said. 鈥淎nd we鈥檝e got to realize that. I think we did a good job of that last year and we鈥檝e just got to get back to that.鈥
With games against the Edmonton Oilers and Philadelphia Flyers coming up, as part of a four-game homestand, the Senators will want to try and get things on track.
Veteran David Perron admitted the team has already let some games get away.
鈥淲e鈥檝e got to learn from it,鈥 said Perron. 鈥淚n a way, sometimes I鈥檓 surprised we haven鈥檛 because of what we went through last year. We鈥檝e got to get right back to that program as soon as we can.鈥
Ottawa will be without captain Brady Tkachuk for six to eight weeks, as a result of thumb surgery, and will need others to step up in his absence.
Green believes the players are aware they are 鈥渄oing things they shouldn鈥檛鈥 and it鈥檚 up to him to help them get through it.
鈥淵ou coach to be honest,鈥 said Green. 鈥淵ou show video, sometimes you yell, sometimes you don鈥檛.鈥
With Tkachuk out of the lineup Green has been juggling his lines in hopes of finding the right combinations but so far hasn鈥檛 seemed to find the right balance.
The trio of Drake Batherson, Tim Stutzle and Dylan Cozens had some success in their game against the New York Islanders, but Green says he has to decide if he can keep them all together.
This report by 好色tvwas first published Oct. 18, 2025.
