This is my hobby and I engage in this activity because it brings me happiness and joy.
It has been three long weeks since we last saw our Ottawa Senators. Sure some of them turned up in Italy and on Fox News from time to time but it has been 21 days since they all engaged in an organized game of ice hockey. In my opinion, that is too damn long.
There is no easing back into things for the Sens. With just 25 games left in the regular season, they need to come out swinging. They sit six points back of the Boston Bruins for that final spot in the Eastern Conference and it’s going to take a whole lot of winning to close that gap over the next couple months.
The Ottawa Senators host the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday night in Kanata.
Some lineup intrigue ahead of this one. Tim Stützle was absent at the AM skate but it does sound like Travis Green is hopeful that he can go. Stützle is officially being called a game-time decision. Because I do not care for the look of the line combinations without him, I am leaving Timmy in his usual spot on the top line. Brady Tkachuk and Jake Sanderson were on the ice this morning and both of ’em will play.
Batherson-Stützle-Giroux
Tkachuk-Cozens-Greig
Cousins-Pinto-Amadio
MacDermid-Halliday-Zetterlund
Sanderson-Zub
Chabot-Jensen
Kleven-Spence
Linus Ullmark starts.
Puck drops at 7:08 PM. The game is on TSN5, TSN1200 and 104.7 FM. Streams will appear in the comment section a little later today.
A closer look at this evening’s match-up via a well-rested HEAD2HEAD table.
| HEAD2HEAD |  |
 |
|---|---|---|
| Record | 33-19-6 (72 pts) | 28-22-7 (63 pts) |
| Goals For | 2.97 (20th) | 3.30 (12th) |
| Goals Against | 2.97 (12th) | 3.23 (24th) |
| Power Play | 23.1% (8th) | 23.1% (8th) |
| Penalty Kill | 79.6% (15th) | 73.1% (30th) |
| Shots For | 28.4 (15th) | 28.5 (14th) |
| Shots Against | 27.7 (15th) | 24.5 (2nd) |
| Leading Scorers | Raymond-60 pts DeBrincat-57 pts Larkin-51 pts Seider-38 pts Copp-33 pts |
Stutzle-61 pts Batherson-49 pts Sanderson-46 pts Cozens-43 pts Giroux-39 pts |
| Starting Goalie | John Gibson 22-12-2 2.54 GAA, .904 sv% |
Linus Ullmark 16-8-5 2.83 GAA, .884 sv% |