Music: {allcanada} Frustration mounts for Ottawa Senators' Gonchar

OTTAWA - Sergei Gonchar (notes) emerged from the Ottawa Senators dressing room almost an hour after Sunday's 3-2 loss to the Washington Capitals, the strain of a dreadful start to his career with the Senators written all over his face.

The Senators' prized summer free agent signing was expected to put a spark into the Senators power play and all-around offensive game. Instead, he ranks 26th among NHL defencemen in scoring, with four goals and 12 assists in 35 games.

More glaring, however, are his defensive mistakes, including an inexcusable gaffe early in the second period Sunday that helped the Capitals change the game's momentum and overcome an early 2-0 deficit.

Gonchar now owns a plus-minus rating of minus 19, which ranks him 753rd among 756 NHL players. At his current rate, he will end the season with a staggering minus 44.

"It's not easy, coming in to a new team," he said, his eyes a touch red. "You have high expectations and you hope with a new addition, the team is going to be better. Obviously, we're not playing as well as we expect to, so yeah, I'm probably putting pressure on myself that I normally wouldn't.

"I'm squeezing my stick probably a little harder than I should. It's one of those things you have to deal with, but there's no excuse for it. I have to be better."

Gonchar, 36, says he has never experienced a slump of this duration during his 16-year NHL career. The plays that once seemed so simple and led to success when he was with the Pittsburgh Penguins aren't working any longer.

He's a step slower than he used to be. He's out of sync with his teammates. The result is frustration piled on top of disappointment.

"I'm part of the group, so I cannot have an excuse and say, 'I've done those things (before) and they're not working for me.' I have to make adjustments and I have to get that sense, that feeling and chemistry, and be on the same page as the guys.

"It doesn't really matter now if things were different for me in Pittsburgh and they worked for me. I have to … change my game."

It was supposed to be very different.

Back on July 1, a confident Senators general manager Bryan Murray signed Gonchar to a three-year, $16.5-million contract, banking that by making the change to the offensive-minded Gonchar from the rugged defensive-minded Anton Volchenkov (notes) would make the club more successful.

Better to be taking shots than blocking shots was Murray's theory.

The theory was based on Gonchar's track record as a power play point-producing machine. Murray expected that by quarterbacking a power play with Spezza, Daniel Alfredsson (notes), Alex Kovalev (notes) and Erik Karlsson (notes), Gonchar would bring that kind of success to Ottawa.

But the power play fizzled, and at the same time Gonchar's play in his own end was inconsistent (even while coach Cory Clouston was insisting his defensive play was "underrated.")

Now, three months into the season, thoughts of a dream power play have turned into a nightmare of sorts.

And Gonchar has been a big reason why Senators are 14-17-4, with the hopes of a playoff spot fading with each defeat and the futures of Murray and Clouston hanging in the balance.

The Senators can't seem to find that "identity" organizations seek to create. They can't rebound when they're behind late in games. Increasingly, they can't put away teams when they hold leads.

On Friday, the Senators led the Colorado Avalanche 5-4 late in the third period, but ended up losing 6-5 in overtime. On Sunday, the Senators led 2-0 in the first minute of the second period and were pressing for more inside the Capitals zone.

Which brings us back to Gonchar's latest costly mistake. Filip Kuba's (notes) pass to Gonchar along the blue line was fine, but inexplicably, Gonchar failed to handle it. That allowed Washington an odd-man rush the other way. Following a scramble in front of the Senators net, Mathieu Perreault (notes) scored.

Just 46 seconds later, Chris Phillips (notes) lost the puck in puddle of water and Eric Fehr (notes) took advantage, tying the game 2-2. Perreault put the Capitals ahead for good on a power play five minutes later.

"We had the puck in the offensive zone," Clouston said of the game's turning point. "When you think you're going to generate an offensive opportunity and five seconds later, it's in the back of your net, it obviously plays an effect on your emotions. On the very next shift, we overskate the puck. It hits water in the corner."

It might be different if the Gonchar giveaway Monday was an isolated event. The fact is, he has made poor decisions all season, regularly putting himself in bad positions and yielding odd man rushes - much to the frustration of the coach.

"When he tries to do too many things, that's when the game starts to fall apart," Clouston says. "(Teams) force him too hard, too quick, they put pressure on him too much for him to think he can make those plays. Especially at the blueline, those are crucial plays.

"That's a game plan. You can tell teams put pressure on him to take his space and time away."

Gonchar can only hope he has hit rock bottom and that the future will be brighter for both him and the team. He still has two-and-a-half seasons left on his contract and says the key now is to try and block out all the negativity and "keep believing" in the system.

"You have to make sure you are doing things over and over," he says. "You might get frustrated and start doing things differently. When you're going through those things, you have to stick with that system. You have to believe in each other. You have to help each other and look ahead. You have to focus on the next game."

That next contest comes Thursday against the Nashville Predators, a team whose identity is all about playing an air-tight defensive game, capitalizing on whatever mistakes opponents give them.

BYE BYE BRODEUR

Make it three leagues in three days for goaltender Mike Brodeur (notes), who was assigned to Binghamton of the American Hockey League by the Ottawa Senators on Monday.

On Sunday, the Senators recalled Brodeur from Elmira of the ECHL to back up Brian Elliott (notes) during Sunday's 3-2 loss to the Washington Capitals. Brodeur had posted a 5-0 shutout over Toledo on Saturday, a victory he hopes is the turning point in a season which has hardly gone according to plan.

Brodeur has played only three games this season - two with Elmira and the season opener with Binghamton, which is when he suffered the concussion that has kept him out of action.

"My year has been a long one, a long two-and-a-half, three months, sitting at home waiting for the headaches and dizziness to go away," Brodeur said before being sent back to Binghamton. "I rushed myself a little bit trying to come back too early and that set me back a little bit more. Now I feel great and finally I can smile and my wife can smile because I'm not miserable around the house."

Brodeur, who put a spark in the 2009-10 Senators by winning twice to kick-start a franchise-record 11-game winning streak, says he made the common mistake of returning too soon from the concussion.

"I tried playing about a month and a half prior to (Saturday) and it was no good," he said. "I felt like I was in a black hole out there and just didn't feel right, but (Saturday) felt great. I felt like myself. I was seeing pucks, feeling pucks. I felt good."

Now that Robin Lehner (notes) has been loaned to the Sweden for the world junior tournament, it's expected Brodeur will battle Barry Brust for playing time in Binghamton.

But if Pascal Leclaire (notes) doesn't recover from the lower body injury which kept him out Sunday, Brodeur could again be recalled to back up Elliott for Thursday's game in Nashville.

HOME, SOUR HOME

Monday was an off day for the Senators, a chance for some down time before going back on the road against Nashville in their final pre-Christmas contest.

Lately, the road has been a much better place than home for the Senators. In their past eight games at Scotiabank Place, the Senators have posted a record of 1-5-2. That's four out of a possible 16 points.

Looking back, the Senators threw away an additional seven points in that stretch by blowing leads against Washington, the New York Rangers, Edmonton and Atlanta.

If they had those seven points, they would have 39 for the season, which would have placed them in eighth spot in the Eastern Conference before Boston's game against Anaheim Tuesday night.