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Sens held team meeting after ugly defeat in Minnesota

Colorado Avalanche v Ottawa Senators

OTTAWA, CANADA - MARCH 2: Alexandre Burrows #14 of the Ottawa Senators sits on the boards as he prepares for a shift against the Colorado Avalanche during an NHL game at Canadian Tire Centre on March 2, 2017 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Francois Laplante/Freestyle Photography/Getty Images)

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Ottawa played last night down the services of Erik Karlsson, Alex Burrows and Zack Smith, who exited in the first period with an upper-body injury.

Those built-in excuses could’ve whisked away any bad feelings from what ended up a 5-1 loss to the Wild in Minnesota. But the Sens weren’t having any of that -- per the Citizen, they held a team meeting following the defeat, which dropped them to 2-4-3 in their last nine and suddely into a bit of danger with regards to their playoff spot.
“It’s a difficult loss that they really took it to us,” Dion Phaneuf said, also per the Citizen. “The score reflects the whole game. If you look at how we got beat, they had more than us.

“They did the little things right and we’ve got to regroup quick because we’ve got a big one Saturday.”

Saturday’s game, in Winnipeg, is undoubtedly crucial. The Sens were comfortably in a playoff position on Mar. 11, sitting six points up on Boston and eight on Toronto.

But after last night? Just three up on the Bruins. And just two up on the Leafs.

There are reasons for this latest slump. Health, as mentioned above, has become a factor. And even prior to sitting out, Burrows -- who was on fire upon being acquired from Vancouver at the deadline -- went cold, and failed to register a point in his last five games.

Craig Anderson has been shaky in net over the last two outings, which included a horrific gaffe against Philly on Tuesday night.

The offense has sputtered, with just 14 goals over the last nine games.

The Sens will need to turn this around, and quickly. They’re in serious danger of going from getting home ice advantage in the opening playoff round, to potentially falling into a wild card spot.