There’s no such thing as a bad time for a stroll.
So as the Senators get set to host Andrew Hammond and the Montreal Canadiens, this feels like as good a time as any to take a stroll down memory lane and look back on one of the most ridiculous periods in the history of the Ottawa Senators.
The Hamburgular Run.
Say the words to a Sens fan and watch their eyes light up. The ultimate purpose of this weird hobby of ours is the pursuit of a Championship but sometimes it’s those moments along the way that stick out more than anything. Lots of hockey fans have felt that feeling of superiority that comes with watching your favourite team lift the Cup. Only Sens fans have experienced the magic of something like the Hamburgular Run. It’s happened once in NHL history. And realistically, it will never happen again. Not quite like it did that year.
It started innocently enough. An injury to Craig Anderson followed shortly after by an injury to Robin Lehner. It was late February and with the Senators set to travel to California, their season was basically toast. And then it happened. A previously unknown AHL goaltender by the name of Andrew Hammond walked into California, posted back to back shutouts in a fashion that can only be described as absurd and in the process, kicked off a dizzying two months of hockey.
Even watching the highlights all these years later, I can barely make sense of it. It’s hard to describe what it was like to experience Andrew Hammond and the Senators at the time. Somehow it was a combination of never believing he would make the save but also having no doubt that he would find a way. Feeling like there was no way they could keep it rolling and feeling that nobody could possibly beat them.
It was in a word, magic. There’s no other explanation.
And tonight, that same Andrew Hammond returns to the Canadian Tire Centre in a Montreal Canadiens jersey, as he starts against the Ottawa Senators. Get the burgers ready. No seriously, let’s all throw hamburgers on the ice.
The Senators host the Canadiens on Saturday night.
Should be a fairly significant change for the Senators up front as Colin White is expected to make his long-awaited return to the Ottawa lineup. He’s going to start at centre on the team’s fourth line but based on comments from DJ Smith, he’ll also take some shifts on the wing with Brady Tkachuk and Tim Stützle. Vibes per 60 will be up the roof on that line.
One change expected on the blueline too as it looks like Victor Mete comes in for Erik Brannstrom. That seems like a game-time decision though as Brannstrom was always taking reps with the second power play unit. Hold the outrage. FOR NOW!
Here’s a best guess at how the Senators will arrange themselves based on yesterday’s practice.
Tkachuk-Stützle-Gaudette
Sanford-Paul-Brown
Formenton-Tierney-Ennis
Kelly-White-Watson
Chabot-Zub
Holden-Zaitsev
Mete-Brown
Matt Murray is expected to start but we’ll confirm that later this morning.
Puck drop at the CTC is set for 7:08 PM. The game is on CBC, CityTV (is that still a thing?) and Sportsnet Least. TSN1200 has the radio feed, Bort has the streams and I’ll bring the burgers. Seriously though- we’re throwing hamburgers, right?
Wondering how these teams match up? Like if one head was directly facing the other head, as in if they were head to head, who would prevail? Well, I have just the table for that.
| HEAD2HEAD |  |
 |
|---|---|---|
| Record | 12-33-7 (31 pts) | 19-26-5 (43 pts) |
| Goals For | 2.29 (31st) | 2.66 (25th) |
| Goals Against | 3.79 (32nd) | 3.16 (22nd) |
| Power Play | 12.6% (31st) | 16.6% (26th) |
| Penalty Kill | 74.4% (30th) | 80.9% (14th) |
| Shots For | 29.4 (27th) | 30.0 (20th) |
| Shots Against | 34.3 (29th) | 33.9 (28th) |
| Respek | None | Some |
| Leading Scorers | Suzuki- 33 pts Anderson- 21 pts Drouin- 20 pts Lehkonen- 20 pts Pitlick- 20 pts |
Tkachuk- 37 pts Batherson- 34 pts Brown- 27 pts Chabot- 27 pts Stützle- 27 pts |
| Starting Goalie | Andrew Hammond 1-0-0 1.85 GAA, .938 sv% |
Matt Murray 5-9-2 2.69 GAA, .919 sv% |
