Ridly Greig’s performance on Wednesday night may not have landed him on the scoresheet — at least not the scoring portion of it — but there was a reason Tim Stützle went out of his way to label Greig as one of many “nail guns” on the Senators after their 5-1 win over the Florida Panthers on Wednesday night in Ottawa.
“Rids was unbelievable. He probably played his best game of the year,” said Stützle after the game.
“He was awesome. Yeah, he really was. There are certain games, where, from the outside, Rids looks like, you know, an average player,” said Travis Green.
“But when the temperature gets turned up and the heat’s on, it’s a hard game to play, there’s not many guys you want on your side more than Ridly Greig.”
Greig finished with seven penalty minutes, two hits, a shot, and a +1 rating from being on the ice when Shane Pinto made the score 3-1 for the Senators late in the second period.
He was also in the fray the entire night, as he, Pinto, and Michael Amadio were tasked with shutting down Brady Tkachuk and the Panthers’ first line during Tkachuk’s return to Ottawa.
“Me, Rids, and Mikey, tried not to think about it too much. I think you take it [on a] shift-by-shift basis, because you know when those players are on the ice, they could score at any moment, and you’ve got to kind of be focusing on that,” said Pinto after the game.
Pinto also led all Senators in ice time (20:31) and dodged a hit from Tkachuk before being sprung on a breakaway by Jake Sanderson to score that goal.
“I think, especially the way they forecheck… I think all of us took a hit to make a play tonight. I think that’s how we had to break out the puck, and everyone bought into that. And I think that was the mindset all night from everyone,” said Pinto.
“And, obviously, some guys took a few big hits, but I thought we broke the puck out extremely well, and I think that fed our game the whole night.”
Stützle and Stephen Halliday each finished with a goal and an assist on the night. Drake Batherson had an assist and was a team-high +3, while Claude Giroux potted his second goal of the season — as did Warren Foegele, off a primary assist from Dylan Cozens.
On the blueline, Sanderson finished with a pair of assists in his first game back since he left the team’s season opener with an injury, while Nikolas Matinpalo matched Batherson’s +3 rating and dished out an assist on Giroux’s marker.
“It was probably our most complete game of the year. And you know, certain moments, certain games of the year bring out what you hope is your best,” said Green.
Players like Hayden Hodgson, who, like Greig, didn’t figure into the scoring summary, were also mentioned by teammates as having stellar performances. Hodgson also finished with seven penalty minutes and dished out three hits in 6:57 of time on ice.
“It’s very rare that you go through your lineup after a game and like everyone’s game, like, in the regular season. You play a lot of games,” said Green, who told the media in the morning Hodgson’s addition in the lineup was to help match Florida’s physicality.
“Different guys are tired from night to night. We rate our players after every game. I don’t remember ever rating a game where, you know, every player we liked. Tonight, every player was good. And [Hodgson] played his role excellent.”
