Tkachuk was visibly angry on the bench after the Sens managed to tie the game and then fell apart.
For the second straight game, the Ottawa Senators were tied or leading in the back half of the third period but came away with zero points in the standings.
The Vegas result was particularly disappointing on Friday night, with the Sens leading by a goal with just over three minutes left.
The 5-4 loss in Colorado on Sunday was a different kind of sting. The Sens were outplayed, and thanks to Anton Forsberg, they hung around, down by only two. Midway through the third period, they got a couple of good bounces and managed to tie it up. Instead of seeing the potential to grind the game to overtime and get a gift point they didn't deserve, the game turned into a track meet.
And captain Brady Tkachuk wasn't happy about it.
"Disappointed, just...that's not the way we need to play," Tkachuk told TSN 1200 radio after the game. "We give them a couple of goals, just mental mistakes. We got into old habits that we thought we got out of. But we just need to be a whole lot better."
Tkachuk spoke specifically about how loose the overall team defence was, drifting into firewagon hockey. Against a team like Colorado, that's not a good choice.
"I mean, I just think, yeah, getting away from it, getting into run and gun. We all have to focus, including myself, on just keeping the puck out of the net. And we got away from that. We got too focused on the run-and-gun game. And clearly, when that happens, it doesn't work out for us."
That's for sure. That's been a prominent storyline every year since Tkachuk arrived in Ottawa in 2018. And despite all the roster changes, here it is again.
After seven years without playoffs, a simple glance at the Monday morning standings should remind the group what's at stake. There's a six-way tie for third place in the division, with all six teams at .500. Points-wise, the Sens are already at the bottom, so anyone planning on an early November six-game losing slide can count on drifting away from the pack and into the Atlantic abyss once again.
Tkachuk is just four months removed from watching his brother, Matthew, and the Florida Panthers win a Stanley Cup and seeing the defensive commitment that takes. That's the commitment he's looking for.
"We just gotta keep it simple," Tkachuk said. "We've just got to be defensively focused. All the teams that have won recently have been defensively focused, and there's a reason why they won the Cup."
Being better defensively has been talked about for such a long time. It's why D.J. Smith isn't here anymore. And it's obviously far easier said than done.