The Senators have a bit of a checkered history with games in Sweden, but is this the year they pull off the difficult European treble?
That is, have fun, win a couple of games and avoid a big losing streak when they return.
The Sens play the Detroit Red Wings in Stockholm on Thursday and then face the struggling Minnesota Wild on Saturday.
Senators head coach D.J. Smith was beyond ebullient to be setting sail for Stockholm, in a manner of speaking.
“I think it couldn’t come at a better time for us, with what’s gone on, injuries and things and the noise,” Smith said.
Ah yes, that noise. It includes the fan noise in the stands off a five-game home losing skid that ended with a big win over Calgary on Saturday, but also “noise” away from the rink in the form of a gambling suspension to Shane Pinto and the firing of general manager Pierre Dorion over a botched trade transaction of long ago.
Through it all, the Senators have been up and down with their play, full value for a 6-7 record, and in need of a little win streak.
“With situations that have happened this year, I think it’s a perfect time to be together, be together a lot, be together in a different country,” Smith said.
After skating on Monday in Sweden, the Senators have a complete day off Tuesday and will be trying their hand at the Swedish game of Padel. No doubt their new assistant coach, Daniel Alfredsson, can provide some tips.
On Wednesday, the players will get back on the ice to prepare for the Red Wings. These are huge games, but Smith and the coaching staff have this idea that the trip can be about more than the four points up for grabs.
They see this bonding experience and in-season reset as a chance to turn the Swedish trip into a leaping off point to better play.
“We want to go over there and win, but we want to come back a different team,” Smith said.
“It’s almost like a retreat of sorts, where you can get away and just play your game. Play hockey. The best and worst part of being in Canada — fans are so passionate and they want their teams to win. Players push themselves so much to try to please (fans) and I think they stress themselves. Going over there, just our group … we’re only going to have ourselves.”
Using games in Europe as a springboard to success — having their meatballs and eating them, too, so to speak — would be a welcome change.
In the fall of 2008, the Senators went to Sweden, had a win and an overtime loss against the Pittsburgh Penguins, then returned home to lose five of their next six games back in North America.
In 2017, Ottawa was 2-0 against the Colorado Avalanche in Stockholm, and returned home to disaster: 10 losses, two OT losses and one victory in the first 13 games after the Swedish trip.
This was the era of head coach Guy Boucher’s famed “rest is a weapon” mantra, in which he had the team skating less to save energy.
This would lead GM Dorion to say later, “if I hear that (‘rest is a weapon’ slogan) one more time I’ll go crazy.”
It was during that losing stretch of 2017 that the Sens completely changed course and entered into a rebuild. Just before Stockholm, they acquired Matt Duchene, a move that signalled Ottawa was trying to go for it once more, after reaching the Eastern Conference Final the previous spring.
But the fallout from the Swedish trip changed everything.
We don’t expect anything as dramatic this time around, although a spark in the right direction would be ideal for a team that should be on the rise this season.
Smith feels he is seeing signs in the team’s play, especially in the past three games, with wins over Calgary and Toronto and a loss to Vancouver in between, of more sound play.
Prior to that, Smith now admits, “we’d been making the big mistake that good teams don’t make.”
Ottawa’s early schedule has been slack. With 13 games, the Sens have played less than any team in the Atlantic Division to this point. The gaps between games, with more this week and next, have allowed more practice time. Smith is seeing better positioning, crisper breakouts in those sessions.
Can it translate into a better record and a chance to get back in the playoff race when the schedule heats up in December?
Forsberg rebound?
Goaltender Anton Forsberg won’t just be one of the key Swedish tour guides for the Senators on this trip. He is expected to get one of the two starts and is looking for a huge lift back home in front of friends and family.
While Joonas Korpisalo has established himself as a clear No. 1, Forsberg is struggling to be the steady alternative. On the season, Forsberg is 2-3-0 with an .833 save percentage and 3.79 goals-against. In his past three starts, Forsberg has yielded five, six and six goals against.
“The way the last few games have gone for me personally, obviously I want to turn it around,” Forsberg said, before leaving for Stockholm.
While vowing to do what he normally does, working on details of his game, the break back home could provide a tonic for him.
“Hopefully it will bring some extra joy and motivation to get back on track again,” Forsberg said.
Though he hails from Härnösand, nearly five hours directly north of Stockholm, Forsberg has spent three summers in Stockholm, training. So, he helped advise the club on where to eat and what sights to see.
Both Forsberg and defenceman Erik Brännström are excited about playing NHL games at home.
“I remember growing up, going to an NHL game (in Sweden),” Forsberg says. “It was a pre-season game or something, and it was just cool. Just to see it. The NHL wasn’t streamed the way it is today, so it was harder to watch the games.”
They are called ‘Global Series’, but Sweden is a regular destination for these games.
“The whole point is to grow the game and show the product we have here,” Forsberg says.
Brännström suffered a concussion a couple of weeks ago, but recovered in time to play Saturday’s game versus Calgary. As a boy growing up in Eksjo, Sweden, the small defenceman hardly dreamed this big. Now, other kids will fuel their dreams.
“I didn’t think I was going to get the chance to play an NHL game in front of family and friends,” Brännström said, smiling. “It’s awesome. I watched the NHL (on TV) growing up as a kid and it would have been great to see an NHL game live.”
Korpisalo may not be Swedish, but the big Finn is close enough to home to have plenty of family and friends on hand in Stockholm. A year ago, Korpisalo had the chance to play in Tampere, Finland with the Columbus Blue Jackets.
“People in Scandinavia, they love hockey,” Korpisalo says. “It just boosts people up.
“I was at one of those Global Series games when I was younger and I was sitting there wishing that could be me someday. Playing one of those games myself now feels pretty surreal.”
