Karlsson calls Senators 'a budget team'

Erik Karlsson took a not-so-veiled dig at his fellow Ottawa Senators after a 3-2 loss to former teammate Robin Lehner and the Buffalo Sabres.

"We're a budget team," the Senators' captain said, according to TSN 1200's Graham Creech. "We don't have the players here that most high-skill teams do. We're successful when we play a grinding game."

Ottawa out-shot the Sabres 36-22, including a staggering 22-2 edge in the third period, but Jack Eichel's goal early in the frame - his second of the contest - held up as the game-winner.

"We're not going to win games that are high-skilled," Karlsson reiterated, according to Murray Pam of The Hockey News. "We're not going to win games scoring fancy goals. We're a grinding team."

The Senators have a solid core of offensively gifted players - including Mike Hoffman, Bobby Ryan, 2015 Calder Trophy nominee Mark Stone, and Karlsson himself - and they rank ninth in the NHL as a team with 2.7 goals per game.

As far as the club's budget goes, General Fanager projects Ottawa to finish about $6 million under the salary cap, barring any moves before the end of the season.

They shut out the New York Rangers 3-0 on Sunday, but have now lost three of their last four contests.

The Senators slipped further down the Eastern Conference ladder when the Carolina Hurricanes thumped the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday night.

Ottawa is only three points back of the second wild-card spot, but they need to leapfrog the Montreal Canadiens, the Hurricanes, the New Jersey Devils, and the Pittsburgh Penguins to get there.