October is upon us and in 12 short days, the Ottawa Senators will begin the regular season against the Buffalo Sabres.
With the start of a new year just around the corner and with expectations dialed up a few notches, there is an undeniable tension around Ottawa’s uninspiring preseason performance. See, the Senators are 1-3-0 through four tune-up games and for some, panic is already setting in.
The team lacks defensive structure, goaltending can’t get the job done, the core isn’t good enough and DJ Smith isn’t the right guy to lead this young team to the promised land.
These are of course all absurd overreactions. There’s no other way to describe it. If you are drawing any sort of conclusions about team performance in the preseason, you’re doing it wrong. And yet, we have seen plenty of it in the last two weeks. It’s preseason for fans too.
The Ottawa Senators play their only game at the Canadian Tire Centre this preseason when they host the Montreal Toilet Seats.
With just three games left in their preseason, this is expected to be the last real audition for a handful of guys. Some of the so-called bubble players had their last chance in Belleville last night and it’s the same thing tonight.
That includes veteran centre Derick Brassard who is with the team on a PTO and hoping to earn a contract in Camp. Brassard has been fine to this point but hasn’t exactly stood out from the crowd in the bottom six. Meanwhile Mark Kastelic, who will also play tonight, has been fairly noticeable throughout Camp and you would think has the inside track on a roster spot when the dust settles. Brassard will centre the top line tonight so a good chance to make an impression.
DJ Smith has hinted that there will be a bunch of cuts coming this weekend so we’ll see who is still around after this weekend.
Just an optional morning skate for the Senators today so line combinations are a bit of an unknown at this point. Both Claude Giroux and Alex DeBrincat are expected to make their home ice debut though as the Senators audition what is likely their second power play unit to start the season.
A best guess at tonight’s lineup based on practice
DeBrincat-Brassard-Giroux
Motte-Pinto-Joseph
Reinhardt-Kastelic-Sokolov
Jarventie-Greig-Sabourin
Dal Colle-Daoust-McDonald
Sanderson-Hamonic
Brannstrom-Zaitsev
Heatherington-Thomson
Larsson-Roger
Mads Søgaard is expected to play the first two periods. Antoine Bibeau will play the other.
Puck drop is scheduled for 7:00 PM. The game is available on TSN5 and RDS. Illegal internet streams are included as part of your monthly SensChirp Premium subscription and will be shared closer to game time.
