Game Day- Senators Host Sharks at CTC

SensChirp January 5, 2018 1,866
Game Day- Senators Host Sharks at CTC

Last night’s dominant performance by Sens prospect Drake Batherson proved to be a helpful distraction in what has been a disastrous season for the Ottawa Senators.

Back to reality tonight.

The Senators kick off a tough back to back on home ice beginning with a match-up against what’s left of Joe Thornton’s beard and the rest of the San Jose Sharks. Then tomorrow, Nikita Kucherov and the league-leading Tampa Bay Lightning roll into town.

Nothing is easy for Ottawa right now but that’s just about as tough as it gets.

The Sharks, who sit 3rd in the tough Pacific Division, are on the second game of a back to back of their own, coming off a 3-2 shootout loss in Toronto last night.  Guy Boucher and the Senators have used the back to back excuse on a few occasions this year and now they have an opportunity to get the jump on a team that played last night.

At the same time, Ottawa and San Jose met earlier this year and it was quite possibly the worst game of the year for the Senators.  They’ll need to be at their absolute best to have a shot in this one.

The Senators were on the ice for practice yesterday joined by a couple familiar faces.

Zack Smith was in a regular contact jersey and could be available for tonight.  If he plays, it seems like Filip Chlapik would be the one to sit.  Mark Borowiecki was also a participant in practice and has been cleared for contact but he’s not quite ready to return.  Sounds like he’s aiming for a return sometime next week.

A best guess at the line up based on yesterday’s practice.

Dzingel-Brassard-Stone
Hoffman-Duchene-Ryan
Pyatt-Thompson-Smith
Dumont-Pageau-Burrows

Oduya-Karlsson
Phaneuf-Ceci
Harpur/Claesson-Chabot

Craig Anderson gets the start for Ottawa. Puck drop is scheduled for just after 7:30 PM.

How could you not like the Drake? On the heels of a two goal performance in the quarterfinals, Ottawa Senator 4th round pick Drake Batherson exploded for three more in last night’s World Junior semi-final.  Batherson now has seven goals in six games, tied for the tournament lead.  He was named player of the game for Team Canada last night and was also selected as one of the team’s top three players in the tournament.  Not a bad showing for a player that was considered to be a long-shot to make the team in the first place. Ottawa has a good one here. Team Canada goes for Gold tonight against Rasmus Dahlin and the Swedes. Puck drops just after 8:00 PM.

Record 21-12-5 (47 pts) 12-17-9 (33 pts)
Goals For 2.68 (24th) 2.58 (28th)
Goals Against 2.47 (5th) 3.29 (28th)
Power Play 21.2% (T-7th) 15.6% (T-25th)
Penalty Kill 84.9% (2nd) 77.3% (28th)
Shots For/Shots Against 32.5 (11th)
30.0 (5th)
30.3 (25th)
31.3 (11th)
Scoring Leaders Thornton- 27 pts
Burns- 26 pts
Couture- 26 pts
Stone- 34 pts
Karlsson- 25 pts
Brassard- 24 pts
Team Shooting % 8.3% (23rd) 8.5% (20th)
Team Save % .918% (T-6th) .895% (29th)