Senators hope to get back on track, visit Avalanche

The Colorado Avalanche were expecting to face an alum when Ottawa came to town, but the Senators fired head coach D.J. Smith beforehand.

Instead, Ottawa will face the Avalanche on Thursday night, with Jacques Martin filling in as the interim head coach.

Colorado has more on its mind than facing a veteran coach two games into his new gig. The Avalanche are coming off a disappointing 3-2 loss at Chicago on Tuesday night that had defenseman Devon Toews calling out unnamed teammates.

Chicago scored two goals on its first three shots and won it with a power-play goal when the penalty killers lost track of Tyler Johnson, who knocked in the winner.

"It's self-awareness," Toews told Jesse Montano of Guerilla Sports. "We need guys that know how to play in our system, know how to play our game and know what it takes. We've got some guys in here. ... I think we've got some guys who think they're playing well, and they're kidding themselves at this point."

"It's frustrating to play out there when you've got guys who think they're playing well and they're doing things where you have no idea what play they're going to make or where they're going to be on the ice," Toews continued. "It's tough to play in this league when you don't know where your teammates are going to be. That's where a lot of the frustration stems from."

The Avalanche played without top defenseman Cale Makar, who missed his third straight game with a lower-body injury but will likely return Thursday or Saturday. Andrew Cogliano (undisclosed) also was scratched.

While Colorado has championship aspirations, the Senators are trying to get back to respectability. They had lost four straight and five of six before Smith was fired and then lost Martin's debut behind the bench, 4-3, to Arizona on Tuesday night.

"I felt comfortable. I think it's going to be a process," Martin said after the loss. "We have different areas that we need to be better and solve. It's not going to happen all in one day. But I think what I want to see is a progression as we move along."

Martin was brought in as senior advisor two weeks ago and moved behind the bench 12 days later.

"It's never good timing, but I think this was the time to make the decision to bring some hope to our players and really in search of some consistency to our game," interim general manager Steve Staios. "We're all looking for more consistency, more detail to our game, more structure."

Ottawa's 22 points is second fewest in the NHL, one point ahead of the Blackhawks and San Jose Sharks. There are few bright spots on the team besides Brady Tkachuk, who leads the Senators with 14 goals.

Colorado has three players with at least that many, and Nathan MacKinnon has a 16-game point streak, the longest active streak in the NHL. He has at least one point in every home game and is second in the league in scoring with 48 points.