OTTAWA — It’s a crazy fact, but this season the Ottawa Senators have been better without Brady Tkachuk.

With Tkachuk in the lineup: 3-7-0.

With Tkachuk out of the lineup: 11-5-4.

Is that Tkachuk’s fault?

No.

He and his team could be better, sure, which they were in an impressive 6-3 win in Columbus on Thursday.

But let’s be clear: Tkachuk isn’t mainly, much less solely, to blame for the Senators’ lack of success with him in the lineup.

So, how do we explain this dumbfounding truth?

Teammate Claude Giroux has an answer.

“That has nothing to do with Brady,” said Giroux. “I don’t think we’re playing that bad of hockey. Can we play better? Yeah, of course. But we’re doing a lot of good things right now, and it’s going to start clicking.”

Giroux had one explanation. Now let’s take a T

See Full Page