The Ottawa Senators, or Sénateurs d’Ottawa as they are known in french, are a club currently operating in the National Hockey League. Established in 1992, they presently play their home games in the spacious Canadian Tire Centre, located in scenic Kanata, Ontario.
In their 28 full seasons of operation, the Senators have qualified for the post-season 16 times. They’ve had 13 Head Coaches, 10 Team Captains, 8 General Managers, one mascot and zero Stanley Cups.
Their 29th season in the National Hockey League has been mostly unpleasant. While their current roster is a window into a future that will be littered with a success so unparalleled our detractors will recoil in shame, there is still more growing to do.
Sadly, injuries and outbreaks are the story early and with 67 games remaining in their season, some have already turned their attention to a Draft that is some seven months away. This is of course, appalling, especially when you consider the 10-game winning streak that’s coming up.
And me, I am SensChirp. Since 2008, I have anonymously shared my mostly underwhelming and strangely optimistic thoughts on the Ottawa Senators with the world. Sens win tonight, by the way.
It’s good to be back.
The Ottawa Senators return from a seven-day break when they visit the Colorado Avalanche.
There is no good way to come back from a seven-day mid-season COVID-related pause but a four-game road trip that begins at high altitude seems less than ideal. The Senators will play their next four games on the road, heading West to California after tonight’s stop in Colorado.
And while the Ottawa’s situation is clearly far more stable than it was a week-ago when the pause button was finally mashed, they aren’t completely out of the woods yet.
The team’s leading scorer, Drake Batherson, is going to miss the entire road trip and won’t return until the Senators head back to Canada on December 1st. Meanwhile Nikita Zaitsev is expected to join the team on the trip, just not in time for tonight’s game.
Here’s how DJ Smith had his team lined up at yesterday’s practice.
Tkachuk-Norris-Stützle
Paul-Tierney-Brown
Formenton-Gambrell-Ennis
Sanford-Shaw-Watson
Chabot-Thomson
Mete-Zub
Holden-Brown
Filip Gustavsson is expected to get the start in goal.
Puck drop is scheduled for just after 8:30 PM. Because after waiting a full week, why not make us hang on for an extra 90 minutes. The game is available on Sportsnet One because somebody hates us. TSN 1200 has the radio feed and a well-rested Bort will be serving up streaming hot steams for Sens fans around the world.
Here’s a closer look at how these teams match up via an equally well-rested HEAD2HEAD table.
| HEAD2HEAD |  |
 |
|---|---|---|
| Record | 4-10-1 (9 pts) | 8-5-1 (17 pts) |
| Goals For | 2.40 (28th) | 3.79 (3rd) |
| Goals Against | 3.47 (29th) | 3.14 (24th) |
| Power Play | 17.6% (20th) | 21.8% (10th) |
| Penalty Kill | 73.8% (28th) | 81.6% (15th) |
| Shots For | 29.3 (25th) | 31.9 (14th) |
| Shots Against | 34.2 (31st) | 31.6 (16th) |
| Leading Scorers | Batherson- 16 pts Norris- 10 pts Ennis- 8 pts Tkachuk- 7 pts Brown- 7 pts |
Kadri- 19 pts Landeskog- 14 pts Makar- 13 pts Rantanen- 12 pts Burakovsky- 10 pts |
| Starting Goalie | Filip Gustavsson 3-3-1 3.01 GAA, .915 sv% |
TBD |
