As far as California road trips go, that one was actually okay.
Obviously not a random Andrew Hammond sweep level of excellence but three out of six points is enough to keep this thing afloat. For now. It may not be panic button time just yet but the truth is the next month of hockey is going to define this season.
The Senators will play four of their next five games in the friendly confines of the Canadian Tire Centre and they need to bank a whole lotta points during that stretch. Because after that, it’s eight straight on the road as the World Juniors take centre stage in Ottawa. With that road trip looming, the Sens need to win these games at home. Now er never, fellas.
The Senators host the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday night.
Despite the lengthy break, no game day skate for the Senators this morning. Just an off-ice workout.
Based on what we saw at practice yesterday, it does seem like there will be some juggling in the line combinations though. Here’s how Travis Green lined them up.
Tkachuk-Norris-Batherson
Greig-Stutzle-Giroux
Cousins-Pinto-Amadio
Reinhardt-Gaudette-Gregor
Sanderson-Hamonic
Chabot-Jensen
Kleven-Bernard Docker
Linus Ullmark is expected to start.
Puck drop is scheduled for 7:08 PM at The Tire.
Although it seems likely that gets pushed a little bit as we have some pre-scheduled nostalgia ahead of this one. Dany Heatley will be in the house tonight and unlike his first visit back in the day, I have no plans to huck a Heatley jersey on the ice. Partly because I already did and partly because after all this time, I’m ready to welcome him back. I think.
HEAD2HEAD table is a healthy scratch for this one. Gotta shake things up.
