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Monday, October 18, 1999
Poor starts dog Sens
Falling behind early left Ottawa stranded on trip
After dropping a 3-1 decision to the Avalanche Saturday in Denver, the keyword around the Senators was "regroup" and with four days before they play again, they will have time to think.
With the Avalanche making a stop at the Corel Centre Thursday, the Senators will take today off before going back to practice tomorrow and one area they'll be concentrating on is getting off to a quick start.
Not only did they fall behind early to the Avalanche at the Pepsi Center, the Senators are also concerned with the three goals they handed the Coyotes in the first period of Thursday's 4-3 loss in Phoenix to start the trip.
"We're just not getting off to the kind of start we need if we're going to be successful," said Senators assistant coach Perry Pearn. "I thought we got off to a slow start again and that kind of got us behind.
"I don't know what it was, but we just didn't seem to have the energy we needed to beat that team."
Troubled by injuries and the absence of holdout Alexei Yashin, the Senators hope to have wingers Magnus Arvedson (deep thigh bruise) and Bruce Gardiner (knee) back in the lineup against the Avalanche.
Since neither was available in Denver, coach Jacques Martin was forced to mix and match his lines, which didn't bode well for the club's offence. Only Shaun Van Allen was able to score on Patrick Roy.
"I thought we had some good opportunities to score. What we didn't have was a lot of good second and third chances. That's what you need if you're going to beat a guy like Roy," said Pearn.
The Senators must also take a look at the power play. Ranked No. 1 in the league going into the game, Ottawa posted an 0-for-5 against the Avs.
Desperate to get something going, Martin even tried moving defenceman Chris Phillips up front to create traffic in front of Roy. That's an area where the club misses Yashin most.
"I know what my job is and I think we've got plenty of skilled forwards who can do it," said Phillips. "I have to get in there and try to get some kind of screen on Roy so that he can't see the puck.
"I look at the game and it was kind of funny. We have a certain style we have to play and we didn't do that. Hopefully, we can regroup the next couple of days and play better against Colorado at home."
BRUSHES WITH FAME: Leaving their downtown Denver hotel yesterday, the Senators spotted Fox broadcaster Pat Summerall heading to a limousine. Summerall was in town to call the Green Bay Packers-Denver Broncos game at Mile High Stadium ... Pearn ran into former Brier champion Kevin Martin during a stopover at Pearson International in Toronto. The two are friends from Edmonton and Martin was on his way to curl in Switzerland. Asked if he told Martin to bring Yashin back to Canada, Pearn replied: "Geez, I never thought of it."
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