Down 0-3 in the best-of-seven series, Ottawa's captain has zero points in three games. It's the first time all year that Brady Tkachuk has gone three consecutive games without a point. He's not alone.
OTTAWA - Forget about getting into another fight.
What the Ottawa Senators really need out of Brady Tkachuk right now is for him to find the back of the net. Or to pick up an assist.
Any sort of offensive contribution would be welcomed in a first-round series against the Carolina Hurricanes that appears headed toward a four-game sweep.
Down 0-3 in the best-of-seven series, Ottawa's captain has zero points in three games. It's the first time all year that Tkachuk has gone three consecutive games without a point. And unfortunately for the Senators, he's not alone.
Tim Stutzle, who led the team with 83 points this season, has yet to land on the scoresheet.
That's zero offense coming from a combined $16.5 million in salary.
When asked about his star players' performances, coach Travis Green offered this one-word assessment: "Average."
The truth is, Green might have been exaggerating.
Tkachuk and Stutzle haven't been average. They have been worse-than-average.
With a combined minus-5 rating in three games, they are getting beaten at both ends of the ice. And their lack of production is the main reason why Ottawa could be eliminated with another loss on Saturday night.
In the playoffs, your highest-paid players can't be average. They have to earn every dollar and be the best players on the ice. At the very least, they need to make a contribution — something more than dropping the gloves in a staged fight off the opening faceoff.
As Green said, "They need to play better to be above average."
The area where Ottawa clearly needs to be better is on the power play, where the Senators have gone 0-for-12 in the playoffs. That included a 5-on-3 man-advantage in the second period of Game 3, where the Senators managed maybe one shot and seemed to give Carolina momentum.
"The power play lost us the game," said Tkachuk. "It's pretty frustrating, but we have to find a way. When things don't go your way, we never quit all season. We just stepped up to the occasion."
In Carolina, we're not seeing average.
Instead, we're seeing players step up and produce.
We're seeing Logan Stankoven score in each of the first three games and linemates' Taylor Hall and Jackson Blake combine for two goals and nine points.
But aside from Drake Batherson (two goals) and Dylan Cozens (one goal), Ottawa just isn't getting enough from its best.
"There are a lot of players in this series that are probably average," said Green. "Both teams can make players look average at times in a series. There's not a lot of space out there. You've got to fight for space."
Indeed, this has been a defensive battle. There have been 10 goals scored in three games. Only once did a team score three goals in a game — and it required double-overtime.
That sort of style has benefited the Hurricanes, who tied for allowing the fifth-fewest goals in the regular season. But it's been frustrating for the Senators, who either seem unable — or unwilling — to get to the dirty areas and have mostly been kept to the perimeter.
"They're a good team. Again, I keep saying that," said Green. "Our offensive game has improved in the last two games. It's not going to be wide-open hockey. It's going to be just a lot of call it 'hard-working hockey', where we've got to find a way to get the puck to the net, where our skilled players can make a play."
Again, time is running out. The Senators were in this same spot against the Toronto Maple Leafs last year and managed to force a Game 6 after being down 0-3, mostly because Tkachuk and Stutzle combined for three goals and eight points in two games.
They'll need something similar out of them if Ottawa is going to extend a series that now looks like it's over.
"I don't expect us to quit," said Green.
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