With the Senators down five defencemen to injury — including stalwarts Thomas Chabot and Jake Sanderson, the latter Zub’s regular partner — the team is relying on players like the stoic Zub to step up in their hunt for the playoffs.
When push came to shove — quite literally — on Tuesday against the Red Wings, there was Zub at the end of a two-minute shift, wrapping up Detroit captain Dylan Larkin as he tried to pry the puck from Linus Ullmark in the dying seconds of a 3-2 Senators win.
Zub eventually fought Alex DeBrincat, who, along with Larkin, was sent off for the final faceoff of the game, weakening the Red Wings attack and chance at a comeback. It was just Zub’s second career fight.
“I was fired up, absolutely,” said Nikolas Matinpalo, Zub’s stallmate in the corner of the Sens’ dressing room and another defender tasked with a larger role in the absence of injured teammates.
“Zubby’s a great guy, great player, so I was happy that he got his fight, and I think he won that too,” contended Matinpalo.
“I’m still trying to get more familiar with him, I wasn’t sure if that is part of his game or not,” said trade deadline acquisition Warren Foegele.
“But no, that was great, it’s just two competitive guys. I know [DeBrincat] pretty well from playing in junior with him, so I know how competitive he is. That was great, the team was fired up, and it was a huge win, so that made it even better.”
Of course, DeBrincat isn’t just a former teammate of Foegele’s, but also of Zub’s, and almost half of the Senators’ lineup.
“That was a little bit surprising, but I liked that a lot,” said Matinpalo. “I don’t even remember [if Zub said anything after the game], I was just fired up.”
So how did Zub see it?
“Nothing crazy, just a battle, you know? Really tight game. Both teams want to win, a little emotions by the end.”
Speaking to the defenceman ahead of the Senators’ game two nights later against the Penguins, Zub was only focused on the road ahead.
“You know, [the media] asks a lot about this, just the same answer for everyone,” said Zub when he was asked how he’s dealing with the loss of so many of his counterparts.
“We have to step up, each guy, we have that situation right now, and we really need two points. It’s a very important game for us, just keep going, keep working.”
With 22:22 of time on ice in that game Thursday — fitting, for the man who wears number two on Ottawa’s defence corps — Zub set a new career high for total time on ice, reaching 1455:07 in the shootout loss.
The newest elder statesman on the blue line also needs just one more point to set a career high.
“He’s been great, honestly, all the D have been great,” said Foegele.
“Just playing against him, he plays hard, and it’s an annoying thing to play against. It’s great to see him show off his skillset when the team needs him most."
“He’s just a focused guy, and absolutely a pro guy,” says Matinpalo.
“He does everything very good, like warmups, everything, he’s dialled in.”
