OTTAWA -- The calendar has changed to November and as the nights grow longer, the Ottawa Senators should have a chance to put some daylight between themselves and their pursuers for a playoff spot in the NHL.
Not that anything is ever easy in today's NHL.
The Senators have 12 games this month -- a relatively light workload -- starting with Thursday's visit by the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Significantly, nine of the 12 games are at Scotiabank Place.
Talk about a chance to make some hay.
Not that the competition is easy pickings. Six of those home games will be against teams which, as of last night, were ahead of the Senators in the standings (the New Jersey Devils, Edmonton Oilers, New York Rangers, Pittsburgh Penguins, Buffalo Sabres and the Washington Capitals).
Two of the other games are against teams many thought would be doing better than they have so far, the Philadelphia Flyers and the Boston Bruins. The remaining game is against the Toronto Maple Leafs (insert your best Leafs joke here).
The three road games this month are against the Flyers, Bruins and Devils.
Through a dozen games, Senators general manager Bryan Murray has seen some things he likes about this team -- particularly the play of the third and fourth lines -- and some things that he has not. At the top of the list is a largely ineffective powerplay which includes a frequently invisible Alex Kovalev (that's my characterization of Kovalev's play, not Murray's).
The powerplay is 26th in the league at 13.8% and, after not scoring in three consecutive games, is now 2-for-11 in the last four. It needed a two-man advantage to finally solve Atlanta Thrashers goaltender Ondrej Pavelec in Saturday's 3-1 loss which dropped the Senators record to 6-4-2.
"I don't think we shoot the puck enough," said Murray by way of breaking down the power play. "It's not only shooting the puck, it's having traffic in front. Those things make a difference. We've lost to a couple of teams that have done that to us."
Murray said after Saturday's game he didn't think the time was right to address Kovalev's performance so far this season. The former Canadiesns star has just one point (a goal) in his last five games and now owns the team's worst plus-minus at minus-5. Kovalev has done nothing to disabuse anyone of the opinion he plays when he feels like it.
Murray said he is hoping the Senators can find a way to use Kovalev's strengths to help all concerned.
"One area we were hoping he would help overall was the power play," said Murray. "We were hoping he would be a big factor."
If the powerplay continues to struggle, Murray said he would investigate looking at bringing in somebody who can help.
"I'll have to look at that, eventually," he said.
CHRIS.STEVENSON@SUNMEDIA.CA
