Brady Tkachuk and the Ottawa Senators earned a huge comeback victory over the Nashville Predators on Monday night, and the captain believes his team has what it takes to turn things around in the second half of 2023-24.
“It's been challenging, it's been hard,” he told Sportsnet's Kyle Bukauskas about a disappointing first four months in Canada's capital. “We've just gotta keep finding ways to win hockey games. … It's time for us to show who we are. I think we're going to do that.”
The Sens found themselves down 3-0 before the end of the first period, leading to goaltender Mads Sogaard being replaced by Joonas Korpisalo. The latter shut it down the rest of the way, while Drake Batherson, Tim Stutzle and Tkachuk each scored in the second period to erase the deficit.
After a scoreless final stanza, it was veteran Claude Giroux who ripped home the winner on a slick feed from Stutzle in OT to send the faithful at the Canadian Tire Centre home happy.
“We showed our maturity from all the lessons that we've had to learn and in the past could've gotten away from us. But we stuck to it, stuck to our game,” Tkachuk explained. “Really emphasized on doing it as a team versus trying to overdo it individually.”
Senators ready for a second-half playoff push?
The Senators have now picked up at least a point in six of their last seven games, and Monday's win was a huge confidence boost for Jacque Martin's club.
Although they remain 17 points out of a playoff spot and last place in the Atlantic Division at 19-25-2, there is some belief in Canada that this roster can string some wins together in the second half.
“We were pretty frustrated after getting smoked [7-2 to the New York Rangers] last game and coming out in the first and being down 3-zip,” Batherson explained. “So had to do something, and a couple of the guys spoke up. Obviously, we came out and played a totally different game.”
The Senators will play one more game before the All-Star break, heading to Detroit to meet their Atlantic Division rival Red Wings on Wednesday.
“It's a big game,” Claude Giroux asserted. “Where we are in the standings, it's not pretty, but we've just gotta go one game at a time.”
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