Livescore
Last year, Shane Pinto famously missed the first half of the season for violating the NHL’s gambling rules. Ottawa Senator fans are now starting to worry he’ll miss the first half of this season too – at least on the scoresheet.
The Senators are once again showing signs of turning the ship around, and Pinto has been a part of that. But part of why the Senators signed him to a two-year, $7.5 million contract in the off-season was his ability to generate offence. And in that area, he’s gone ice cold.
In Wednesday’s 5-1 victory over the Anaheim Ducks, Pinto’s pointless streak reached 15 games, and his goalless drought hit 19.
Pinto was knocked off stride again this season, though not to the extent he was last year. This time, it was an injury he suffered four games into the season against the New Jersey Devils. Pinto tried to play for two more games before shutting things down after a game against Utah HC. The injury forced him to miss eight games and he hasn’t been on the scoreboard since.
Pinto’s current stat line is one goal and two assists in 20 games.
It’s the kind of thing that could weigh on a young player who just turned 24 last month. But to his credit, when he spoke to the media on Wednesday morning, Pinto seemed his usual light, positive self, trying to keep things in perspective.
“Yeah, I think, obviously, us playing well helps,” Pinto told the media scrum. “But I know every athlete goes through it. I think that’s been a main point of my thinking lately. It’s eventually going to be over, and it’ll work itself out. But yeah, I’ve just got to stay positive, and when the team is winning, it definitely helps.”
Pinto says he’s received plenty of advice during this rough patch, but his strategy right now is to stick to his routine and try not to overthink the slump.
“I think when you’re an athlete, you want to do so well, you care about the results. But when you worry about the results too much, that’s when they don’t come. So you just stick with the process, and eventually, it all turns around.”
Pinto was asked if he had any superstitions that he leans on, or if he might consider changing things up.
“I’m not very superstitious. I have my routines, but I don’t do anything too crazy. So I’m not changing to white tape. I’m keeping my black tape.”
Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch then shared the famous story of Bruce Gardiner, who played for the Senators in the late ’90s. Quite depressingly, that was before Pinto was even born. There was a time during Gardiner’s tenure in Ottawa when he would try to shake off a scoring slump by dipping his stick blade into a toilet bowl.
As a sign that Pinto isn’t letting the slump get to him, he chuckled along with Garrioch.
“No, no, no,” Pinto laughed. “I may have to put it in the garbage for a greasy one, a greasy goal, but I don’t do any of that. I won’t be doing any of that.”
Moping never solved anything for anyone, so staying positive is definitely the best course of action. But Pinto is well aware that this is the NHL, and a slump of this magnitude simply cannot continue much longer.
Related articles from The Hockey News-Ottawa:
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