After the Ottawa Senators pummeled the Vegas Golden Knights Sunday, head coach Travis Green told his team, “We showed we can beat any team, any night. Don’t listen to the white noise. Don’t listen to people away from this rink, zero negativity.”
With only 30 games remaining in the Senators’ season, 10 points out of a playoff spot, Green needs to keep his players focused on the task at hand, and that is winning hockey games.
While passionate fans on call-in shows and social media will always air their grievances, the team can’t allow themselves to get wrapped up in the diatribe.
“There’s a lot of talk. You know, there’s a lot of talk at this time of year. Call it whatever you want. I tend to call it white noise. There’s a lot of passion, especially in Canada, when you play in the Canadian market, and that’s one of the great things about playing in the Canadian market. And what I meant was, you can’t concentrate on too far down the road. A lot of people are going to talk about where we’re at right now,” explained Green after Tuesday morning’s practice.
As stated in this column prior, the Senators’ pathway to the postseason is slowly fading. Ottawa will likely need to play at a .667 rate, earn 40 out of a possible 60 points remaining on the table. This is also part of the “white noise” the Senators head coach is speaking.
“We’re better in a lot of areas this year than we were last year, and we just need to keep playing and not listen to people saying how we have to win this many games.”
Green’s mantra has always been “Win the day.” While not in those exact words, it’s all the coach and his players can do; go day by day, take one game at a time, don’t look at the bigger picture.
|We just need to win the next game and keep playing with confidence. I like how aggressive we played the other night. That’s a big part of our game. And when we do. we’re pretty good,” said Green.
https://hockeyhotstove.com/category/bloggers/murray-pam
Veteran Claude Giroux echoed the comments of his head coach, “When you look at the standings, you look at other teams, and you know, you’ve got to go one game at a time here, and that’s what we’re going to be doing, and that’s what we’ve been doing.”
Senators Notes:
Halliday injury update
Stephen Halliday was deemed day-to-day by Green Tuesday after being checked into a stanchion by Golden Knights’ Tomas Hertl in Sunday’s game. It was a disappointing end to Halliday’s night, especially after the 23-year-old was in the midst of his best performance of his 21 NHL games to date. Halliday notched two goals. adding one assist and has now registered a total of three goals, seven assists in rookie season.
Halliday viewed morning practice seated on the Senators’ bench. Green confirmed Halliday won’t play Wednesday when Ottawa faces the Colorado Avalanche.
Forward Xavier Bourgault was recalled from Belleville for the second time this season.
Ullmark starting?
The Senators head coach wouldn’t confirm if goaltender Linus Ullmark will make his first start versus the Avalanche since returning to the active roster Sunday.
Ullmark practised under the watchful eye of his junior goalie coach Maciej Szwoch and Senators’ Justin Peters.
Green noted, “When he’s ready to play, he’ll play. Do we miss him? For sure. Do we want what’s best for him? One hundred percent, and no one’s rushing him back, he’ll play when he’s ready to play, and we’ll welcome him back.”
