Ottawa Senators confident they can right the ship in Game 2 of Battle of Ontario

Toronto Maple Leafs and the Ottawa Senators rough it up during third period of Game 1. The Canadian PressArticle content

The Ottawa Senators got knocked down, but they swear they will get back up again.

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The first chapter of the Battle of Ontario since 2004 is in the books, and the Ottawa Senators spent Monday licking their wounds after a 6-2 loss in Game 1 of the series on Sunday night at Scotiabank Arena.

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The Senators will turn the page and move on to Game 2 on Tuesday in Toronto before the series moves to a raucous Canadian Tire Centre for Game 3 on Thursday.

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Coach Travis Green hasn’t ruled out making changes in Game 2 and it would make sense for veteran winger Nick Cousins to suit up. This will be a tough series and he can get under the skin of the Leafs by being a pest.

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Green and his staff met with the Senators at the club’s downtown hotel on Monday at noon, but he wasn’t about to shed any light on what he told the troops as they prepared for Round 2 when the media inquired.

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“We’re going to have to play better than we did last night to win,” Green told TSN 1200’s Gord Wilson.

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That’s an understatement.

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The Senators weren’t at their best in Game 1 and they know it.

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Thirteen players with Ottawa had never suited up in a National Hockey League playoff game in their career — and many of them showed it. It’s not that the Senators were bad, they just weren’t good enough.

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That needs to change and it has to happen quickly.

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“We had a lot of guys who hadn’t played in a playoff game and that was exciting,” Green said. “It’s hard not to be. You get into that kind of atmosphere and it’s rambunctious. Both teams came out physical.

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“I thought we were a little nervous to start the game. Our passing wasn’t quite where it needed to be, but I thought it got better as the game went on.”

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Brady Tkachuk, one of those making his playoff debut, noted last week that his brother Matthew — who won a Stanley Cup with the Florida Panthers last spring — advised the Ottawa captain to take it one game at a time.

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The Senators have only lost one game and this series is far from over, but they are battling the odds here.

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“It wasn’t the result we wanted, but there are still some positives to take away from last night’s game,” alternate captain Thomas Chabot said. “Once you get through it (that first game), it’s a lot of learning for all of us, and it’s good that we went through it.