Game Day Five: Senators at Canucks, Mar. 11
By
Daniel Chisholm
Hockey Content and Social Media Specialist
The set-up
The Senators will get their chance to avenge the early season loss Vancouver dealt them as they hit the midway mark of their Western Conference road trip. Coming off a big win over the Seattle Kraken in a back-and-forth game the Senators are primed to carry that momentum into Rogers Arena tonight. Having gone 7-3-0 over their last ten, the Senators are firmly making a playoff push here as the season winds down. The Senators are getting contributions from all angles of late, with five different goal scorers in their last outing, including the first of his Senators career for Patrick Brown.
Vancouver comes into tonight a much stronger team than their record would indicate. Having won four of their last five games and taking down some formidable opponents in Dallas and Toronto, this team can get it done. A top 12 offensive group averaging 3.31 goals per game, led by Elias Petersson, Andrei Kuzmenko and J.T. Miller with 30, 30 and 23 goal respectively as well as Quinn Huges with 61 points in 60 games.
With Vancouver growing used to playing spoiler of late and the Senators fighting to grab one of the Wild Card spots, expect this game to go the distance!
Roster notes
With no morning skate today, below is how the Senators lined up for practice yesterday at Rogers Arena:
Forwards:
Tkachuk - Stützle - Giroux
DeBrincat - Pinto - Batherson
Joseph - Gambrell - Brown
Brassard - Kastelic - Watson
Kelly - Gauthier
Defense:
Chabot - Zub
Sanderson - Hamonic
Chychrun - Holden
Brannstrom
Past history
Tonight will mark the 58th ever matchup between these two interconference Canadian foes. Vancouver has a healthy lead in the all-time series 33-22 with two additional ties along the way. Over the last eight this series is split right down the middle, right down to the goals with Vancouver having a narrow one goal advantage. Of course, the last time these two faced off in November Vancouver won in 6-4 fashion at Canadian Tire Centre. The Senator will look to return the favour here tonight.
Who to watch
It's a telling sign when you're held off the score sheet in a five-goal game and still your head coach proclaims that you had the best game of the night. That was exactly the case for Drake Batherson following the Senators game against Seattle two nights ago as D.J. Smith praised Batherson's improved puck tracking and how he flew all over the ice all night long. Of course, Batherson is known to put his name on the stat sheet more often than not, with 51 points in 64 games this season. The last outing against Vancouver way back at the beginning of November, Batherson was one of the four goal scorers on the night for the Senators. Look for Batherson to add to his scoring tally here tonight as he continues his strong two-way play!
Where to watch
Saturday's game can be seen live on CBC, Sportsnet, CITY and TVAS2. Fans can also tune into the radio call on TSN 1200 and Unique FM 94,5.
