Ladies and gentlemen – at long last, it’s Bath Time again.
In a season littered with cruel twists of fate, the injury to Drake Batherson may have stung the most. In the middle of a career-year and on his way to his first all star game, he had his season derailed in the blink of an eye. At the time, he was Ottawa’s leading scorer and according to many, their best player. And for 28 games, they had to make do without him. Until tonight.
Drake Batherson returns to the Ottawa lineup when the Senators host the East-leading Florida Panthers on Saturday night at the Canadian Tire Centre.
DJ Smith has no intention of easing Batherson into things as he’ll start in his familiar spot alongside Josh Norris and Brady Tkachuk. Those three were pretty close to unstoppable before Batherson’s injury so we’ll see if they can pick up where they left off.
Here’s how the team lined up at the morning skate.
Tkachuk-Norris-Batherson
Formenton-Stützle-Brown
Joseph-Tierney-White
Ennis-Gambrell-Watson
Brannstrom-Zub
Holden-Zaitsev
Del Zotto-Hamonic
Anton Forsberg starts again for the Senators.
Puck drop is scheduled for 7:08 PM down at the See T See. The game is available on CityTV and Sportsnet One. TSN1200 has the radio call. Or if you’re feeling real adventurous, put on your best pair of chaps and head on down the road to “Country Night” at the Canadian Tire Centre.
Wondering how the Senators match-up against a team that they trail by 41 points in the standings? As you would expect, actually. Good thing the game is played on the ice and not in this beautifully crafted table.
| HEAD2HEAD |  |
 |
|---|---|---|
| Record | 43-14-6 (90 pts) | 23-36-5 (51 pts) |
| Goals For | 4.06 (1st) | 2.59 (28th) |
| Goals Against | 2.84 (13th) | 3.25 (23rd) |
| Power Play | 23.5% (9th) | 18.9% (23rd) |
| Penalty Kill | 80.0% (15th) | 80.2% (13th) |
| Shots For | 36.8 (1st) | 30.2 (19th) |
| Shots Against | 30.9 (11th) | 33.1 (25th) |
| Leading Scorers | Huberdeau- 88 pts Barkov- 63 pts Reinhart- 61 pts Ekblad- 57 pts Duclair- 48 pts |
Tkachuk- 46 pts Stutzle- 39 pts Brown- 37 pts Norris- 37 pts Batherson- 34 pts |
| Starting Goalie | Sergei Bobrovsky 30-6-3 2.56 GAA, .917 sv% |
Anton Forsberg 15-13-2 2.72 GAA, .918 sv% |
