Less than 24 hours after a humbling loss against the Detroit Red Wings, the Senators are right back at it as they play host to the Arizona Coyotes.
While there were positives to take away from last night’s game, the overall performance was a bit of a letdown for the Sens after back to back wins over division rivals in their first two games of the season. We’ll see how they respond against a young but talented Arizona team tonight.
The Coyotes, who are in full blown rebuild mode, have a 14 year old kid as a General Manager and a bunch of his nerdy friends making most of the decisions. I’m sorry Arizona, I didn’t mean that. The Coyotes went all-in on analytics this summer which led to a handful of changes in their front office and on their roster. Most of the experts still don’t see the Yotes as a playoff contender though. They’ve played just once so far this season- a 4-3 overtime win on Saturday night against the Flyers.
Their line up for that one was full of players making their NHL debut. Terrifying for the Senators who sort of have a thing for giving up career-firsts.
As expected, Thomas Chabot will make his NHL debut tonight. With Chabot drawing in, the Senators are expected to go with seven defenceman and eleven forwards. There was plenty of talk about this alignment during the preseason and now we get to see it in action for the first time. The combination of last change and seven defenceman means that Guy Boucher can shelter Chabot a little bit in his first game in the league.
Will be really interesting to see how he looks. There were flashes of brilliance in the preseason but it was clear that he still had some work to do in his own end of the rink. They’ve been working with him a lot in practice and he’ll finally get a little bit of on the job training tonight.
With Chabot drawing in, Matt Puempel returns to the press box. Chris Nelly will anchor the fourth line. No morning skate for but here’s how the Senators are expected to line up. Although if last night is any indication, these combinations could change pretty easily.
Hoffman-Turris-Stone
Smith-Brassard-Ryan
Dzingel-Pageau-Pyatt
Kelly-Neil
Methot-Karlsson
Phaneuf-Ceci
Borowiecki/Chabot-Wideman
Craig Anderson makes the start in the Ottawa goal. Puck drop is scheduled for just after 7:30 PM but please be in your seat on time as I’ve been asked to perform the National Anthems ahead of tonight’s game.
