Senators captain Brady Tkachuk: ‘I’m sick and tired of seeing all this negativity’

Ottawa Senators captain Brady Tkachuk wasn’t giving his team any breaks for suffering a loss against the red-hot New Jersey Devils, who came into the Canadian capital and earned a 12^th straight win.

“It’s on us for not getting ready – it’s on me for not helping the group get ready,” Tkachuk told reporters after the 5-1 loss on Saturday, Nov. 19.  “I take responsibility for that one. And yeah, there’s times tonight that we played solid, played our game, but it wasn’t enough.”

Ottawa is now 6-10-1, good for last in the Atlantic Division. A lot of criticism has been levelled at coach D.J. Smith, who entered this season with high expectations after the Senators picked up the likes of Alex DeBrincat, Claude Giroux and Cam Talbot in the off-season.

And Tkachuk, for one, is tired of all the criticism being directed at his bench boss.

“You see it all the time — I’m sick of the negativity towards that,” he told reporters. “Nobody to blame but ourselves, the players. We weren’t ready to play today. That’s my job to get everybody ready. And yeah, I’m sick and tired of seeing all this negativity, social media and all that. It’s not one person, it’s the group in here that needs to figure it out.”

The Senators’ next chance to figure it out comes on Monday, Nov. 21 when they visit the San Jose Sharks.