The Senators have lost five of their last six games and the captain had some things to say after falling 6-4 to Tampa.
After a 6-4 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning Saturday night, the Ottawa Senators hit the 10-game mark with a 4-6 record. They've now lost five of their last six games. But all anyone could talk about afterward was the post-game commentary from Senators captain Brady Tkachuk.
Tkachuk says he's frustrated the club doesn't seem to be getting any bounces right now. But while discussing the bad bounces, he changed the subject to the negativity and booing coming from the fans at the CTC Saturday night.
"It's frustrating," Tkachuk said. "The negativity from the outside, the constant booing and the bull****, kind of, from the crowd too tonight was...I understand that they're a passionate fan base. I understand, I love it. But I mean, when you face adversity, you don't turn your back on the guys out there. We're playing hard. I know it's frustrating right now, but it's not like we're giving up out there. We're fighting to the very end. So, to be honest with you, I was very frustrated today.
"In here, there's no quit and there never has been. I don't think we've ever showed a time where we've quit on the people that paid money to support us. I think it's non-negotiable in our group that we finish hard no matter what. We leave it all out there. And sometimes it's frustrating and I understand.
"Don't get me wrong. I understand they're frustrated, but we leave it all out there. Of course, you want to win. Of course, we had pressure and expectations this year and we want to live up to that. So we're facing a ton of adversity right now. Everyone's thinking so negative right now. We just need to get out of it.
"I've got nothing but confidence with this group, with everybody around our team right now. I've got nothing but confidence. I know we're going to get out of it. I know we're going to be better because of it."
Tkachuk has been outstanding this season with 8 goals and 11 points in 10 games. At 24, he's a still a kid, who let emotions take over Saturday night. Some of the commentary was almost certainly in defence of head coach D.J. Smith, who remains on the hotseat.
But the fact remains that turning your frustration toward the fan base is always a no-win strategy. Fortunately for Tkachuk, he's banked so much good will in this town, he'll probably get – and deserves – a mulligan on this one.