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Coach MacLean tired of excuses, wants to see Senators compete

Paul MacLean

Paul MacLean

AP

The Ottawa Senators only lost Friday’s game against the Florida Panthers by one goal, but the 3-2 defeat went hand-in-hand with a 46-24 shot differential against Ottawa and a similarly lopsided result from an advanced statistics perspective.

So even if the Senators were in this game from start to finish, head coach Paul MacLean, to put it mildly, wasn’t pleased.

“We have a very good goalie ... The rest of the group not even close to being acceptable,” MacLean said, per the Ottawa Senators Bruce Garrioch.

He added, “We have too many excuses ... We need results. We need people who want to come here and compete.”

As it is, MacLean doesn’t think the Senators compete level was nearly good enough for the NHL. Ottawa got off to a 4-1-0 start this season, but has slipped to 10-8-4. Perhaps more troubling than Ottawa’s slump though is that this has become a recurring theme.

Dating back to last season, MacLean has been bothered at times by the team’s effort. Life won’t get any easier for the Senators either as their road trip will conclude with games against Tampa Bay and the New York Islanders. After that, they’ll host the Islanders in the second half of that series, before facing Pittsburgh, the NHL-leading Vancouver Canucks, and the defending champion Los Angeles Kings.

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