from Wayne Scanlan of Sportsnet,

When the Senators got booed off the ice following the 5-0 pasting on Monday, it marked a new low on an already difficult season. At 8-9 despite having 13 home games, Ottawa fell to dead last in the Eastern Conference, with 16 points in 17 games.

Senators head coach D.J. Smith fell on his sword after the game, but that wasn’t enough to appease fans pleading for a change on the post-game radio show in Ottawa.

“We weren’t ready to play at the start, and that’s on me,” Smith said. “They come out and outshoot us 9-1 on the first shift. ... It took us to the nine-minute mark of the first before we got real competitive. And then five-on-five we were fine, obviously.”

Well, not really. The Panthers outshot the Sens 25-15 at even-strength and scored two even-strength goals to go with three power-play goals. The total shots were 38-20 in favour of Florida.

If this was supposed to be a bounce-back game after Friday’s loss to the Islanders, it was an abject failure.

Smith had said beforehand this was a good time to face Florida as a test for his team. The results are in. Ottawa didn't measure up in any category, other than penalties committed.

Talk about a nightmarish start — the Senators took two icing calls and then a penalty before the game was a minute and five seconds old. Just 23 seconds into that man advantage, Florida had a one-goal lead off a shot by Sam Reinhart at 1:28 of the first.

more