With last night’s disappointing loss at the hands of the Toronto Maple Leafs, Ottawa’s dream of a perfect season came to a sudden and shocking end. So close.
The Senators now return home for a Sunday showdown against the Dallas Stars.
It would be inaccurate to suggest the Sens deserved better on Saturday night but it’s not hard to imagine the game going differently. The Leafs were the better team but there were a handful of moments- Batherson’s missing an open net early, Stützle’s one-hand attempt that hit the post, Batherson’s off-side goal, Zub’s miss from in tight late- where had it broke Ottawa’s way, the result would have been different.
That’s hockey, I suppose. So while there are definitely areas for improvement (gotta do something about that second defence pairing), there are also plenty of positives through the first 120 minutes of the regular season.
This guy is at the top of that list of positives.
All you need to know about tonight’s opponent is they are from the United States of American. For the first time since that fateful game against the Los Angeles Kings way back in March 2020, the Senators will face off against an American team. After playing a full season against an all-Canadian division, it’s going to be interesting to see how the Senators match up against the rest of the league.
No game day skate scheduled but DJ Smith met with the media this afternoon and as expected. Michael Del Zotto draws in while Victor Mete comes out. Brady Tkachuk won’t play today and instead, will make his return on Thursday against the Sharks.
Stützle-Norris-Batherson
Paul-Pinto-Brown
Formenton-Tierney-Ennis
Sanford-Shaw-Kelly
Chabot-Zub
Del Zotto-Zaitsev
Holden-Brown
Would assume Filip Gustavsson’s gets the nod but we’ll confirm later today.
Puck drop is scheduled for just after 5:00 PM. The game is available on TSN5, TSN1200 and according to my sources (Bort), the illegal internet streams will flow like water. Streams of water.
Here’s a closer look at this evening’s festivities via the world-renowned HEAD2HEAD table.
| HEAD2HEAD |  |
 |
|---|---|---|
| Record | 1-1-0 (2 pts) | 1-1-0 (2 pts) |
| Goals For | 2.00 (25th) | 2.00 (25th) |
| Goals Against | 2.50 (T-9th) | 2.50 (T-9th) |
| Power Play | 12.5% (25th) | 33.3% (T-8th) |
| Penalty Kill | 0.0% (T-25th) | 75.0% (T-10th) |
| Shots For | 27.0 (T-26th) | 28.5 (T-22nd) |
| Shots Against | 36.5 (25th) | 38.5 (T-26th) |
| Leading Scorers | Heiskanen- 2 pts Benn- 1 pt Faksa- 1 pt Glendening- 1 pt Kero- 1 pt |
Ennis- 3 pts Batherson- 1 pt Chabot- 1 pt Stützle- 1 pt Norris- 1 pt |
| Starting Goalie | Anton Khudobin 1-0-0 0.00 GAA, 1.000 sv% |
Filip Gustavsson 0-0-0 -.– GAA, .— sv% |
