Scotiabank Place has not been all that friendly to the Ottawa Senators the last couple games.
The Flyers are expected to be one of the best team's in the Eastern Conference this year and tonight the Sens found out exactly why. Philadelphia surged out to a 4-0 first period lead and never looked back, registering a dominant 7-2 win.
Ottawa has now been outscored 14-3 in their last two home games.
There are going to be a number of rough nights for this rebuilding hockey team but they certainly making things easy on themselves. Alex Auld struggled in the first period tonight and the Flyers made him pay. The 4-0 deficit was just too much for the young Senators to overcome.
Listening to the Sens player interviews after losses, it's clear this is still a team adjusting to the new system being put in place. Paul MacLean knows exactly how he wants his team to play but it is taking the players a little more time than he would like to get on the same page.
The result has been some ugly losses.
One of the positives in this one came in the form of Erik Karlsson. He logged a ton of ice time (25:43) and picked up a couple more points. He now has 8 points in the first 6 games of the season.
The Sens held a players-only, closed door meeting after the game and according to Ian Mendes on Twitter, it sounds like the discussion focused around creating an identity for this team
They will have a chance to work on that identity on Thursday when the Winnipeg Jets visit Scotiabank Place for the first time.
- Mika Zibanejad is now 6 games into his NHL tryout. It was good to see him back at the centre ice position because he certainly looks more comfortable there than on the wing. Still get the sens Zibanejad is down to his last few games with the NHL team for this season.
- Speaking of Zibanejad, the kid took a beating from Chris Pronger tonight. Had the opportunity to sit up close tonight and it is remarkable the things Pronger gets away with on the ice. The stick work is unbelievable.
