It certainly wasn’t a dominant performance but a win over the rival Toronto Maple Leafs is always nice.
The Ottawa Senators hit the ground running in their preseason opener tonight, cruising to a 6-3 win over the Leafs in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The game was billed as big one for the bubble guys and in the end it was an AHL-bound Phil Varone that stole the show, finishing with four points on the night.
While Varone isn’t exactly in the mix for a spot with the big club, he is expected to be a key piece to the team in Binghamton next year. He’s been a reasonably productive player throughout his pro hockey career and he’ll be counted on to produce offence for the BSens.
The Senators are right back at it again tonight too as they visit the Buffalo Sabres. Ottawa will ice a much deeper line up for this one.
The forward combinations will feature four of the team’s top six forwards, including Derick Brassard’s debut in a Sens uniform. In an interesting development, 2015 2nd round pick Gabriel Gagne is expected to start on the top line with Mike Hoffman and Kyle Turris. The organization has obviously liked what they’ve seen from Gagne in the Rookie Camp, Rookie Tournament and the start of the Main Camp and want to reward him for his hard-work.
Goes without saying but this will be a big game for a couple guys considered to be on the roster bubble, including Matt Puempel and Ryan Dzingel.
On defence, we get our first look at Matt Bartkowski, who was signed to a PTO prior to the start of Camp. Looks like he’s going to start on the right side, paired with Marc Methot. He should get pretty heavy minutes playing in the team’s top four. With the Dennis Seidenberg rumours continuing to swirl, it’s important that Bartkowski shows what he can do tonight.
A reminder that the team is expected to break into an NHL and AHL group tomorrow.
Here’s a look at how the Sens are expected to line up for this one.
Hoffman-Turris-Gagne
Smith-Brassard-Ryan
Dzingel-Kelly-Neil
Puempel-Chlapik-Robinson
Phaneuf-Ceci
Methot-Bartkowski
Claesson-Lajoie
Andrew Hammond starts in goal and is expected to split duties with Matt O’Connor. Craig Anderson was expected to start but will miss the game to deal with a personal issue.
Puck drop is scheduled for just after 7:00 PM and the game is available on TSN5.
