from Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun,

The faithful came to see Connor McDavid at the Canadian Tire Centre.

They exited the building wondering if maybe the Senators should try to win the lottery because the dream of making the playoffs is far from reality.

While the Edmonton Oilers’ young star didn’t disappoint with a pair of assists in his second game back after missing 37 games with a broken clavicle, the Senators embarrassed themselves with their fifth loss in six games — a disgraceful 7-2 defeat Thursday night in front of 18,564.

And, that resulted in a 10-minute players only closed-door meeting and though they look like they’re coming apart at the seams the message was not to let that happen.

“Stick together,” said winger Zack Smith. “We’re still confident in this group. The main focus right now is not to feel sorry for ourselves.

“Yeah, we got some bad bounces, but you have to work (to achieve better results), especially when you get in a rut like this. You have to work that much harder to get out. The main thing is to stick together. This is a good test when you go through something like this.”

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