Ottawa Senators captain Brady Tkachuk likes what he sees from his team, and for good reason.
Tkachuk and the upstart Senators will continue to put the pieces together on Tuesday night when they visit the skidding Buffalo Sabres.
In Tkachuk’s eyes, the picture became clearer with Ottawa’s response following its 5-4 loss to the Colorado Avalanche on Oct. 27.
The Senators erupted for an 8-1 rout of the St. Louis Blues last Tuesday, were done in by a superb effort by former Vezina Trophy recipient Igor Shesterkin and the New York Rangers on Friday and blanked the Seattle Kraken 3-0 the following night.
“After the Colorado game, we were extremely disappointed with how we played there,” Tkachuk said, per the Ottawa Citizen. “There’s been an emphasis since then to never let that happen again. The last three games have shown the way that we need to play.
“To be honest, that’s the way we need to like and want to play. Those are the types of games that we need to thrive on. As a team, we’re just going to keep building off that, and we aren’t a group that’s going to be complacent with wins and efforts. We want more.”
They are getting more out of fourth-liner Adam Gaudette, who has scored all six of his goals this season in the last five games to pull even with Tim Stutzle for second on the team. Gaudette, a Hobey Baker recipient in his college days, and Stutzle reside one goal behind Tkachuk.
“It’s a tough league. It’s a tough league to crack and even tougher to stay in,” Gaudette said, per the Ottawa Citizen. “I’ve had to round out my game defensively without the puck and I could always score.
“But the rest of my game wasn’t there to be able to play at this level yet. A couple of years down in the AHL has taught me that. I learned from a lot of different people and I’ve been around a couple of different teams. I took everything like a sponge and it’s paying off.”
While it’s too early for the Senators to think about making the playoffs for the first time since 2016-17, the Sabres — who have missed the NHL’s second season every year since 2010-11 — find themselves tied for the fewest points in the Eastern Conference.
Alex Tuch recorded his second short-handed goal of the season on Saturday, but Buffalo surrendered a pair of power-play goals in a 2-1 setback to the Detroit Red Wings.
“The penalty kill was the obvious difference. It is unacceptable to give up two goals,” Tuch said. “In the second half of the game, I thought we took over and played very well, but we need to bury some chances.”
Tage Thompson saw his point streak halted at a career-high eight games.
Thompson, who leads the team in goals (seven) and points (13), had five goals and an assist to help the Sabres split their four meetings with the Senators last season.
