There’s an old expression in sports and it goes like this- “burn the tapes”.
It’s used in situations where a team plays a particularly terrible game and would like to forget it entirely. In the case of whatever that was against the Florida Panthers on Thursday night, burning the tapes doesn’t seem like enough.
Those tapes need to be burned and the ashes of said tapes then should be launched safely into orbit. Honestly, it’s hard to recall a less pleasant Sens-watching experience. Partly because the team was just dreadful but also, because the officiating was as bad as it gets. Deadly combination.
The Senators will be looking for a bounce-back effort when they continue their road trip with a stop in wherever the hell the Coyotes play these days.
DJ Smith is expected to meet with the media at 1:15 PM so we’ll find out if there are any injuries or plagues to report then. For now, we’ll assume they go with a similar look as the other night in Florida.
Tkachuk-Norris-Sanford
Formenton-Stützle-Brown
Paul-White-Ennis
Kelly-Gambrell-Watson
Chabot-Zaitsev
Holden-Zub
Heatherington-Mete
Would expect Matt Murray to get the nod but we’ll have to wait and see.
Puck drop is scheduled for 4:08 PM eastern time and 2:08 PM for those of you on mountain time. Around 5:38 PM for the Newfoundlanders in the house and sometime on Sunday if you’re tuning in from China. The game is available on TSN-V, RDS and on the radio at TSN-MCC on the radio. The illegal internet streams will flow like water.
And now, a HEAD2HEAD table for the ages. In all my years churning these beauties, this may the best one yet. At first glance, it may look like the usual tabular perfection but when you really look closely, you’ll see what makes this one extra special.
That’s right- the HEAD2HEAD table confirms that the Ottawa Senators are superior to their opponent in every category.
Magical.
| HEAD2HEAD |  |
 |
|---|---|---|
| Record | 19-29-5 (43 pts) | 15-35-4 (34 pts) |
| Goals For | 2.57 (26th) | 2.28 (32nd) |
| Goals Against | 3.17 (T-21st) | 3.56 (T-28th) |
| Power Play | 16.0% (28th) | 11.6% (32nd) |
| Penalty Kill | 81.1% (12th) | 74.0% (30th) |
| Shots For | 29.6 (22nd) | 26.0 (32nd) |
| Shots Against | 33.9 (28th) | 34.7 (31st) |
| Leading Scorers | Tkachuk- 38 pts Batherson- 34 pts Brown- 29 pts Chabot- 28 pts Stützle- 27 pts |
Keller- 47 pts Kessel- 33 pts Ghostbear- 31 pts Schmaltz- 26 pts Boyd- 24 pts |
| Starting Goalie | Matt Murray 5-11-2 2.78 GAA, .915 sv% |
Scott Wedgewood 7-13-3 2.88 GAA, .907 sv% |
