It was on a cold day in January that the SensChirp comment section boldly emerged from the proverbial basements of their mothers and attended the beer release party of the century.
At the same time, in a jerk-filled rink on the other side of the province, the Sens went head-to-head with one of the most consistently remarkable regular season teams/perpetually terrible playoff teams in the history of the sport.
The Ottawa Senators visit the Toronto Maple Leafs. SensChirp visits Beyond the Pale.
A Friday night for the ages.
First, a word about the SensChirp Event. When we came up with this idea intially, I did have some concerns about attendance. A custom-made SensChirp beer is as good as it gets for me personally but there were questions about just how many people would show up on a cold night in January.
Those concerns quickly evaporated over the last week.
While there is still a chance a good number of those spots were reserved by my Mom and Dad, late last night we learned that the event was officially “sold out”. Which is just wild to me.
And while Beyond the Pale tells me there will definitely be space for anyone that doesn’t have a spot “reserved” and wants to walk-in, it’s pretty amazing to see how many spots were reserved.
You’ll want to get there early though because the 240 SensChirp Beers they made really don’t stand a chance. I mean, just look at these things!
Oh and there’s a hockey game too!
After ugly losses against Pittsburgh and Winnipeg, the Senators bounced back nicely against the Islanders. It wasn’t a work of arty party by any stretch of the imagination but it was work. Ottawa outworked the Islanders most of the night and then locked it down in the third period. It was the kind of effort they haven’t had enough of in the first half of the season and something they’ll want to continue against whoever the hell they are playing tonight.
Senators are the ice for a morning twirl at 11:30 AM so we’ll confirm the lineup then. Assume the same look for now though.
Tkachuk-Stützle-Joseph
DeBrincat-Greig-Giroux
Brassard-Pinto-Batherson
Kelly-Gambrell-Watson
Chabot-Holden
Sanderson-Hamonic
Brannstrom-Zaitsev
Cam Talbot was hurt last game and is going to be out for a little bit. That means Anton Forsberg gets a start in goal.
Puck drop in Toronto is scheduled for 7:08 PM. The real party starts at 6:00 PM. The game is available on Sportsnet, CBC, TSN1200 and on streaming sites across Al Gore’s internet.
The beer release party can only be experienced in person.
It’s table time.
| HEAD2HEAD |  |
 |
|---|---|---|
| Record | 21-23-3 (45 pts) | 30-11-8 (68 pts) |
| Goals For | 2.85 (25th) | 3.39 (9th) |
| Goals Against | 3.26 (20th) | 2.61 (3rd) |
| Power Play | 26.4% (4th) | 24.2% (10th) |
| Penalty Kill | 81.1% (8th) | 79.3% (16th) |
| Shots For | 33.7 (5th) | 31.9 (16th) |
| Shots Against | 31.8 (20th) | 28.7 (6th) |
| Leading Scorers | Tkachuk- 47 pts Stützle- 43 pts Giroux- 42 pts Batherson- 40 pts DeBrincat- 39 pts |
Marner- 57 pts Nylander- 57 pts Matthews- 53 pts Tavares- 48 pts Bunting- 33 pts |
| Starting Goalie | Anton Forsberg 8-10-2 3.30 GAA, .901 sv% |
Matt Murray 11-5-2 2.73 GAA, .911 sv% |
