They were Canada’s two storybook sweethearts a season ago: The Ottawa Senators roaring into the playoffs with an unbelievable final two months while the Calgary Flames continually defied the odds with heart-stopping comebacks right through to the second round.
A new year has brought about new challenges — and a new story for both.
Ahead of their meeting at Canadian Tire Centre on Wednesday Night Hockey (Sportsnet One, 7 p.m. ET), the Senators and Flames are still in search of some old magic.
Calgary, in particular, has dug a sizeable hole with a 2-7-0 start. It’s not an insurmountable challenge, but the pressure has mounted considerably for them to start showing better.
“We need to be consistent,” Flames coach Bob Hartley told reporters this week. “This league is too good to pick and choose when you’re going to be good.”
The problem spots have been many: The blue line clearly misses the presence of injured T.J. Brodie, especially with Dougie Hamilton still finding his way on a new team; they’ve received below-average goaltending; and the scoring has been sparse beyond the top line of Johnny Gaudreau, Sean Monahan and Jiri Hudler.
As a group, they almost seem caught in the middle of where they were and where they’re supposed to be.
Ottawa has simply been caught in a funk. A string of injuries certainly hasn’t helped matters — perhaps the return of defenceman Marc Methot will provide a shot in the arm on Wednesday — and coach Dave Cameron has spent the last few days asking his 3-3-2 team to give a little bit more.
“Right now I feel like the weatherman,” Cameron told reporters on Monday. “You’ve got something to plan and you turn on the TV and the weatherman is talking about how sunny it is and everybody is all happy, they turn it up. But when the weatherman forecasts there might be a storm on the horizon, they change the channel.
“Well, if we don’t fix our game, there is a storm coming; so we have to recognize it, deal with it.”
One thing the two organizations share is a bevy of intriguing players. Flames captain Mark Giordano likely would have won the Norris Trophy had he not been injured last February, opening the door for Erik Karlsson of the Senators to claim it for a second time.
Both are logging big minutes again and remain focal points for their teams.
Gaudreau leads the Flames with 10 points in nine games while Mark Stone, a runner-up along with the Calgary winger for the Calder Trophy last season, has a team-best nine points in eight games for the Sens.
There are seemingly endless parallels between the organizations.
The unexpected rise of Ottawa and Calgary made it five Canadian teams in the Stanley Cup playoffs a year ago and they’ll likely both need to repeat the feat for it to happen again.
However, right now those thoughts remain a long way off.
The Flames and Senators are both searching for a better version of themselves. Perhaps one, or both, will rediscover it tonight.
