Establishing an identity

The doors to the Ottawa Senators dressing room were closed for 15 minutes following Tuesday's 7-2 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers.

But instead of head coach Paul MacLean reading the riot act following another embarrassing defeat on home ice, the Senators decided to call a players-only meeting.

"We just all kind of have to look at yourself in the mirror," said alternate captain Jason Spezza about the tone of the meeting. "Make yourself a better player and play with more pride and figure out what we have to do and what type of team we are."

Establishing a team identity and mentality was the focus of the players-only meeting on Tuesday night. The players admitted to being embarrassed by consecutive losses on home ice, in which they were outscored 14-3 by Colorado and Philadelphia.

"We're not that team - we're not the team that's played the last two home games here," added Spezza. "We've got to forge an identity and we got to figure out what type of team we are to compete.

In his post-game news conference, MacLean said time will tell whether or not the players-only meeting was a success.

"We'll find out as we progress," said MacLean. "But I think it's time for some self-evaluation and looks into the mirror and asking the guy there if you're doing enough. The coaching staff is going to have to do that itself, because obviously, what we're doing isn't translating from practices into games and we need to re-evaluate."

What is truly concerning to the Senators is the manner in which they have been losing games this season. They have frequently allowed their opponents to gain early leads, as they have been outscored 13-2 in the first period of their first six contests.

"We've got to find more urgency in our game, more resilience when things go bad," said Daniel Alfredsson. "You're going to have situations where you get a bounce or whatever against you, but it's how you respond to that. We've got to do a much better job at that and move the puck up and move the play up in their end a little bit and give a push back right away. It seems like we can't really get that going and we start playing when the game is getting a little bit out of hand."

The Senators have also been the victim of inconsistent goaltending to start the season. Entering Wednesday night's game, they had allowed a league-high 30 goals against. On Tuesday night, a weak goal by Flyers forward Matt Read against Alex Auld in the first period was the catalyst for the Flyers offensive barrage against Ottawa.

"Obviously that first goal can't go in. when you give up a goal like that, even though we got off to a good start," explained Auld, who was pulled after the first period. "I think it sort of set us back on our heels a bit and then they kept coming."

The Senators will try and snap a three-game losing streak when they host the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday night.