The Ottawa Senators have their work cut out for them.<\/p>\n
Sitting six points out of the final wildcard spot in the East with the National Hockey League schedule set to resume<\/a> on Wednesday night, the Senators have ground to make up in the final 25 games of the season if they\u2019re going to make the playoffs for the second straight spring.<\/p>\n As they prepare to face the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday at the Canadian Tire Centre, the Senators know the task won\u2019t be easy. The club won five of six games heading into the break, and has no time to waste to try to get back into the mix<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cBefore the break, we found our identity again, and we were playing really stingy defensively,\u201d winger Nick Cousins told the Ottawa Citizen after the club\u2019s skate on Saturday. \u201cIt\u2019s just a matter of picking up where we left off. I know it sounds clich\u00e9, but coming this long break, it\u2019s going to be about who can get to their game the quickest.<\/p>\n \u201cThe schedule is going to come quickly. We have to make sure we\u2019re ready. We\u2019re right there. We\u2019re only six points out, and we\u2019ve put ourselves in a good spot. Everybody is rested, recharged and they\u2019re ready to get going again.\u201d<\/p>\n The NHL\u2019s Olympic roster freeze was lifted on Sunday at 11:59 p.m. EST with the trade deadline set for March 6<\/a> at 3 p.m. The Senators will play four games before the deadline and those results will go a long way in determining whether this club can push for a spot or not.<\/p>\n Steve Staios<\/a>, the club\u2019s president of hockey operations and general manager, will have some decisions to make before the deadline, but the issue is there aren\u2019t many sellers and the Senators don\u2019t consider themselves to be in that category either.<\/p>\n There is a lot of belief in the club\u2019s room that the Senators can scratch their way back into the conversation. The club will have to win 18 or 19 of its final 25 games to make a serious run down the stretch and hope they get some help from teams in front of them.<\/p>\n The Senators understand they haven\u2019t left themselves any margin for error and they can\u2019t afford another losing skid. To make that happen, they know they need to be strong defensively and have good discipline.<\/p>\n \u201cSometimes when we get away from our game, we try to outscore our problems,\u201d said Cousins, who won a Stanley Cup with the Florida Panthers in 2024. \u201cWe open the game up and play that back-and-forth style that you can\u2019t win with.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen we\u2019re playing stingy defensively, our forwards and (defence) have a really good gap, and we make the other team dump it in. One thing in the last 10 games that I\u2019ve noticed is that we\u2019re staying out of the box. That\u2019s been important to create a better flow through the game.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you have a lot of penalties that can take guys out of their rhythm. The bad penalties are the ones that come back to bite you.\u201d<\/p>\n A lot will depend on the play of top goaltender Linus Ullmark, who looked solid in the two games he suited up before the break after taking a leave of absence for mental health reasons.<\/p>\n \u201cIf we can get Ully back playing up to his level of play, then we\u2019re a tough team to beat,\u201d said Cousins.<\/p>\n The Senators who didn\u2019t go to the 2026 Olympic Games in Milan returned to the ice a week ago. The players had Friday off before skating on Saturday and the skills contest on Sunday.<\/p>\n Coach Travis Green told reporters on Monday a lot of planning went into determining how to use this time wisely. You can only do so much to make sure that practice isn\u2019t stale, and the drills the Senators did on Monday involved a little more physical play to prepare for that aspect.<\/p>\n