We are four games into the season and I’m not sure we’ve learned a damn thing about this year’s Ottawa Senators.
Each game has sort of taken on a life of its own and there really hasn’t been a common thread through the first couple weeks. Encouraging moments have been mostly cancelled out with familiar letdowns. They’ve been fine but also at times, entirely not fine. And in terms of finding an identity, it’s very much a work in progress.
The Ottawa Senators continue their search this afternoon against the undefeated Tampa Bay Lightning.
No morning skate for the Senators with the early start so we’ll need to look to yesterday’s practice for clues on the lineup. Both Shane Pinto and Thomas Chabot missed the skate with what were called maintenance days. Artem Zub and Ridly Greig also weren’t there but they are both still nursing injuries.
Daniel Alfredsson was also smack dab in the middle of line rushes but just as a placeholder. Unless….
A best guess at the lineup based on what we saw yesterday
Tkachuk-Stutzle-Amadio
Gregor-Pinto-Perron
Giroux-Norris-Batherson
Cousins-Gaudette-MacEwen
Sanderson-Hamonic
Chabot-Jensen
Kleven-Bernard-Docker
Linus Ullmark was a full participant in yesterday’s practice. I have no idea what that means anymore.
Puck drop is scheduled for just a shade after 1:00 PM in Ottawa. It’s Spartacat’s birthday (ALLEGEDLY) so get there early to celebrate with that giant-headed Sens-lovin’ lion. The game is available on Sportsnet, TSN1200 and hopefully on streaming sites all across the internet because I’ll be somewhere in upstate New York by game time. (GO BILLS).
A closer look at today’s match-up via the HEAD2HEAD table which remains perfect in every way.
| HEAD2HEAD |  |
 |
|---|---|---|
| Record | 3-0-0 (6 pts) | 2-2-0 (4 pts) |
| Goals For | 4.00 (5th) | 3.25 (15th) |
| Goals Against | 1.67 (3rd) | 3.75 (22nd) |
| Power Play | 15.4% (22nd) | 37.5% (3rd) |
| Penalty Kill | 80.0% (13th) | 69.2% (28th) |
| Shots For | 25.0 (32nd) | 32.0 (7th) |
| Shots Against | 24.3 (1st) | 29.8 (19th) |
| Leading Scorers | Kucherov-7 pts Guentzel-4 pts Hedman-4 pts Hagel-3 pts Moser-3 pts |
Stutzle-6 pts Tkachuk-6 pts Norris-4 pts Sanderson-4 pts Batherson-3 pts |
| Starting Goalie | TBD | TBD |
-Lastly, a quick word of thanks for everyone that participated in yesterday’s debut edition of The Community. It’s a concept I have been thinking about for awhile now and honestly, it could not have gone better. Great questions, a respectful audience and just some really excellent answers from our first guest. Ian Mendes has set the bar pretty high for whoever comes next. You can get a look at Ian’s answers here, by the way. Looking forward to the next one!
