There are times in pro sports when the game takes a back seat.
It’s those moments when you’re reminded that it is indeed just a game but also, that there are real people involved. And in those moments, we learn a lot about the people in and around the game of hockey. It’s not always pretty.
What the last few days have made abundantly clear is this game of ours, this hobby, is flawed. Not what happens on the ice necessarily but rather, away from the rink. We’ve learned a lot about one situation in particular but there is no doubt that this is the tip of the iceberg. There are almost certainly countless stories like this in the NHL and in sport in general.
Something needs to change.
But culture change doesn’t happen just because people lost their jobs. Holding those individuals accountable is an important step but the only way the sport can really evolve on issues like this is with continued dialogue on those shortcomings. And most importantly, with the league taking real and meaningful steps to prevent it from happening again.
I don’t know exactly what that looks like but I know that we, as in fans and media, have a role to play by continuing to hold the sport and the league accountable, even after this story fades from the headlines.
The Ottawa Senators take on the Stars tonight in Dallas.
Tonight’s game is the first of three straight on the road for the Senators. After tonight, they’ll get the weekend off before heading to Chicago on Monday night and then Minnesota on Tuesday. It’s Ottawa first road trip to the United States since March of 2020.
DJ Smith has his team on the ice for a game day skate in Dallas and it looks like there will be a couple changes to the lineup from that game against the Capitals three months ago or whatever it was.
Dylan Gambrell, acquired from the San Jose Sharks, makes his Sens debut playing on the team’s fourth line and wearing the number 27. He’ll have Zach Sanford on one wing and Logan Shaw on the other. Austin Watson is close to a return but it looks like they’ll wait until Monday night.
Here’s how the Senators are lined up at the game day skate.
Tkachuk-Norris-Batherson
Stützle-Paul-Brown
Formenton-Tierney-Ennis
Sanford-Gambrell-Shaw
Chabot-Zub
Holden-Zaitsev
Mete-Brown
Filip Gustavsson gets the start in goal.
Puck drop is scheduled for just after 8:30 PM. Late start so plan your pre-gamin’ according. The game is available on TSN5, RDS2, CJOH and the New RO. Dean and Gord have the radio call and Bort is servin’ up streaming hot steams.
Here’s a closer look at this evening’s match-up via the HEAD2HEAD table.
| HEAD2HEAD |  |
 |
|---|---|---|
| Record | 2-4-0 (4 pts) | 3-3-1 (7 pts) |
| Goals For | 2.50 (21st) | 1.86 (31st) |
| Goals Against | 3.17 (24th) | 2.57 (8th) |
| Power Play | 26.3% (T-9th) | 16.7% (T-19th) |
| Penalty Kill | 77.8% (24th) | 85.7% (9th) |
| Shots For | 30.0 (23rd) | 29.4 (25th) |
| Shots Against | 32.0 (T-22nd) | 31.4 (T-16th) |
| Leading Scorers | Batherson- 6 pts Brown- 4 pts Ennis- 4 pts Norris- 4 pts Tierney- 4 pts |
Heiskanen- 7 pts Faksa- 4 pts Raffl- 3 pts Seguin- 3 pts Suter- 3 pts |
| Starting Goalie | Filip Gustavsson 1-1-0 2.96 GAA, .898 sv% |
Braden Holtby 2-2-0 2.04 GAA, ,939 sv% |
