Senators finding ways to stay out of the ditch in highly anticipated playoff drive

OTTAWA — The greatest difference between this edition of the Ottawa Senators and their recent predecessors just might be an ability to stay out of the ditch. 

We can talk about their streaks good and bad — two batches of five-game losing streaks and a couple of six-game winning runs — but when it has counted, when the Sens have been on the precipice of a bad streak at the wrong time, they have found a way to keep this train on the rails.

Saturday’s 3-2 win over the Devils in New Jersey is the latest example. Never mind that they took a ho-hum 3-1 lead and turned it into a white-knuckle finish, the Senators avoided a three-game slide by handling New Jersey rather easily for most of the night. 

As a result, the Sens find themselves above the fray in the wild-card chase, somewhat comfortable in WC1 while a host of teams — most of them more pretenders than contenders — hash it out for the second spot.  

I know — there are three-plus weeks to go and some room to move, but the recent slides of teams that are supposedly hungry and desperate have taken a lot of the drama out of the wild-card races, especially in the East. 

Weren’t the New York Rangers supposed to be better than this? They have lost seven of their last 10, barely eking out a win on Sam Rosen Day Saturday afternoon. 

“I’m trying to drag this team into the playoffs with me,” said the legendary Rangers broadcaster, in a speech before the game against the Vancouver Canucks. Rosen is retiring after this season. 

“They’re not listening to me,” Rosen added, about the Blueshirts, “but hopefully that will change in the next couple of weeks.”

I’ll say they’re not listening. Vancouver outshot the Rangers 39-11 and it was only the heroics of goaltender Igor Shesterkin that kept New York in the game, as he has kept the Rangers in this race. Barely. 

Sens fans will recall a third-period lead the Rangers squandered in Ottawa on March 8, setting up captain Brady Tkachuk’s overtime winner, which was a fairly accurate synopsis of the two teams this season: The Senators finding a way to win while the Rangers continue to disappoint. Their wild-card rivals all have two games in hand on New York, a point behind the pleasantly surprising Montreal Canadiens sitting in the second wild-card spot. 

The New York Islanders, with lesser talent, have shown a little more heart and are just a point behind their Manhattan rivals. 

Elsewhere, the hopefuls hit skids at the wrong time — the Detroit Red Wings and Columbus Blue Jackets have both dropped eight of their past 10 games to pretty much fall out of the race. 

I would offer this warning, though, for Ottawa fans eyeing a week against weaklings, with Buffalo, Detroit and Columbus on the schedule for the Senators. 

You know these lower-seeded clubs will relish any chance to spoil the party with some late-season wins. 

Cozens shuffles back to Buffalo

Dylan Cozens didn’t have to wait long for his first trip back to the city that drafted him seventh overall in 2019 — the Senators meet the Sabres on Tuesday. 

Cozens, acquired by the Senators at the trade deadline, has been a good fit for an Ottawa team seeking its first playoff berth since 2017. The addition of size and skill, while giving up the oft-injured centre Josh Norris in return, should pay dividends in the weeks ahead. 

The Senators are already pleased with the play of the 24-year-old Cozens, who has nearly a point per game with three goals and four assists in eight outings. Depth defencemen Jacob Bernard-Docker and Dennis Gilbert also switched teams in the deal.

“I don’t think you ever know a player until you actually coach him,” said Senators head coach Travis Green. “To be honest, (Cozens) might be a little better than what we’d hoped — and I think there’s still a lot of growth in him. He’s a young guy. He’s still learning a new system.”

Everyone agrees — Green and veteran winger David Perron both spoke about this — that it is weird going back to your old team for the first time. 

Everything is a little different. Your former teammates are on the other bench. And you’re dressing in a strange room in a familiar rink. 

It should help Cozens that the dads are along for this trip and they will take some of the focus away from Cozens’ return. Dylan’s father, Mike, was at Monday’s practice and had a big smile on his face in the hours leading up to the flight to Buffalo. 

Cozens admits this trip came on short notice for the Cozens family, which hails from Whitehorse, as Dylan has been on the Senators for a little over two weeks. 

In anticipation of his return, Cozens has been exchanging texts with his Buffalo pals and plans to make the best of whatever awkwardness there may be. 

“I’m excited,” he said, after Monday’s skate at the Canadian Tire Centre. “You know, it’s going to be a little weird, for sure. I’m trying not to overthink it. At the end of the day, it’s just another game. And a big two points that we need.”

Cozens didn’t ask for this trade. But you can see in his play he has been lifted by joining a team with legitimate playoff hopes while leaving a Sabres organization that is sadly out of it again. 

He has had some time to reflect on what went down on March 7. 

“I thought I was going to be there (Buffalo) for a long time,” Cozens said. “You know, I thought I was going to be part of the solution. I dreamt every day about turning things around there and being a successful team and what it would be like. 

“Obviously, it didn’t work out. It is what it is. I’m happy to be here and I’m very happy to be a Senator.”

And the Senators are just as happy he’s a Senator. 

Tkachuk rests, but expected to play

Tkachuk, who has been battling an apparent hip injury, did not skate on Monday. But Green said the big winger should be in the lineup vs. the Sabres. Green was less sure about defenceman Nick Jensen, who did skate Monday but has been out with an injury since March 13.