It’s hard to pinpoint exactly when things changed.
See, the Ottawa Senators have been bad. For some time now actually. Basically from the moment that knuckle puck found it’s way over the shoulder of Craig Anderson in double overtime, the Senators have been in a tailspin.
30th place in 2017/2018, 31st place in 2018/2019 and 30th in 2019/2020.
Yet coming into this year, it seems that expectations have shifted. Maybe not outside of the Ottawa market, where most experts had this team pegged for another last place finish. But among local media and a segment of the fan base, it’s clear that this year’s results are unacceptable. And nobody is safe.
Whether it was Eugene Melnyk’s foolish reference to impending unparalleled success a couple years back or Pierre Dorion’s preseason ramblings about this being an improved hockey team, it’s clear that the bar was raised coming into this season.
For the most part, fan expectations are kind of irrelevant. Even more so in a year when we can’t actually attend the games in person. Fan frustration can lead to decreased ticket sales but this season, it’s mostly just leads to increased levels of collective angst.
And there sure has been plenty of that through the first two and a half weeks of the season.
The funny thing about that is most of the off-season moves made by Pierre Dorion certainly did not give the impression that they thought this rebuild was anywhere close to complete. Obviously they wanted to be more competitive but when you plug roster holes with expiring contracts, that suggests transition year.
Although even in a transition year, you would think Pierre Dorion and company would like to occasionally win hockey games.
The Ottawa Senators look to snap their seven-game losing streak when they visit Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Alex Chiasson and whoever else players for the Edmonton Oilers.
And they’ll do it without their best defenceman.
Senators are on the ice for their game day skate and no sign of Chabot. That means Artyom Zub makes his season debut. I’ll admit, the idea of watching these six defenceman try to contain Connor McDavid is kind of intriguing.
Tkachuk-Norris-C. Brown
Stützle-Tierney-Batherson
Paul-White-Dadonov
Paquette-Stepan-Watson
Coburn-Gudbranson
Reilly-Zaitsev
J. Brown-Zub
No word on a starting goalie for the Senators but I would expect they go back to Matt Murray. Just a guess though.
Puck drop is scheduled for just after 9:00 PM. The game is available on TSN5, RDS and Sportsnet West. You can also find it on the radio at TSN1200 or on illegal streaming sites all across the information super-highway.
Here is the increasingly unpleasant HEAD2HEAD table.
| HEAD2HEAD |  |
 |
|---|---|---|
| Record | 1-6-1 (3 pts) | 4-6-0 (8 pts) |
| Goals For | 2.13 (28th) | 3.00 (T-14th) |
| Goals Against | 4.50 (31st) | 3.60 (28th) |
| Power Play | 11.8% (28th) | 21.6% (15th) |
| Penalty Kill | 75.8% (T-21st) | 71.0% (28th) |
| Shots For | 31.3 (13th) | 31.6 (T-10th) |
| Shots Against | 31.6 (20th) | 32.7 (26th) |
| Leading Scorers | Norris- 5 pts Tkachuk- 5 pts Zaitsev- 5 pts Paul- 4 pts |
McDavid- 17 pts Draisatl- 15 pts Nugent-Hopkins- 7 pts Nurse- 7 pts Yamamoto- 6 pts |
| Starting Goalie | TBD | TBD |
