What a treat that was.
It’s not that my expectations were low necessarily. In fact, I’m not even sure I had any expectations at all. It felt like there was next to no hype leading up to the Four Nations tournament and outside of the obvious benefits to an injury-plagued Sens team, I really didn’t think much of the first-time mid-season event going into it.
Sure, I planned to watch. But just wasn’t sure how emotionally invested I would be in the proceedings.
And then approximately 15 seconds into that first Canada power play, I got completely lost in it. There is nothing quite like a best-on-best international tournament to quickly remind you about all the best parts of this incredible game. That was hockey at its finest. Plain and simple. And that goal and that win…well it is right up there with the best moments in Canadian history.
I will never ever get tired of watching this.
This transition back to reality, however…this might be a struggle.
The Ottawa Senators return from the Four Nations break for a big ol’ Saturday night showdown against the Montreal Canadiens.
As expected, there is a ton of uncertainty in the Ottawa lineup coming out of the break. We’ll start with the injured guys. Both Shane Pinto and Josh Norris are out although it doesn’t sound like it will be much longer. Both guys are expected to practice tomorrow with the full group. Nick Jensen is also still dealing with an injury of sorts and is considered a game-time decision. Meanwhile, both Brady Tkachuk and Jake Sanderson missed the morning skate and are considered game-time decisions.
A best guess at the lineup. I am putting Brady Tkachuk in there because frankly, I miss having him on the team I’m cheering for. Let’s assume Jake Sanderson plays too.
Tkachuk-Stützle-Giroux
Perron-Greig-Batherson
Highmore-Ostapchuk-Amadio
Gregor-Gaudette-Reinhardt
Chabot-Zub
Kleven-Matinpalo
Sanderson-Hamonic
Linus Ullmark gets the start in goal.
Puck drop is scheduled for 7:08 PM down at The Tire. CityTV, Sportsnet East, TSN1200 and Bort will be providing the coverage. The HEAD2HEAD table will be providing the award-winning statistical overview.
| HEAD2HEAD |  |
 |
|---|---|---|
| Record | 25-26-5 (55 pts) | 29-23-4 (62 pts) |
| Goals For | 2.88 (16th) | 2.80 (21st) |
| Goals Against | 3.43 (29th) | 2.77 (10th) |
| Power Play | 20.7% (19th) | 23.4% (10th) |
| Penalty Kill | 81.7% (8th) | 78.2% (20th) |
| Shots For | 26.0 (30th) | 29.7 (7th) |
| Shots Against | 29.2 (23rd) | 28.0 (12th) |
| Leading Scorers | Suzuki-52 pts Caufield-49 pts Hutson-41 pts Slafkovsky-30 pts Evans-27 pts |
Stutzle-56 pts Batherson-45 pts Tkachuk-44 pts Giroux-37 pts Sanderson-35 pts |
| Starting Goalie | Sam Montembeault 18-21-3 2.99 GAA, .897 sv% |
Linus Ullmark 12-9-2 2.49 GAA, .915 sv% |
