Sens defenceman Thomas Chabot has been seeing plenty of ice this season and currently sits 2nd in TOI/GP in the NHL with an average of 26:29 per night, trailing only San Jose's Brent Burns (26:36) for the most in the league.
"It's something I like and enjoy and you gain more confidence," said Chabot about the extra minutes. "The game will start to slow down in front of you as you spend more and more time on the ice."
In Friday's game against the Islanders, Chabot logged a season-high 30:20 minutes of ice-time but stressed while he enjoys playing more, his deployment can vary on a game-by-game basis for a variety of reasons.
"I've never going to say no to getting a lot of ice-time," Chabot joked. "I think I had something like 7 minutes on the power play that game so that adds up. It's usually been the other way this season since I don't play on the PK but every game is different."
Chabot, like many of his teammates, will be lined up across a familiar face in Erik Karlsson tonight. For parts of his rookie season in 2017-18, Chabot had the opportunity to partner up with Karlsson on the back end and credits that experience with helping him grow his game at the NHL level.
"He's an elite player," Chabot said of the former Senators' captain. "He won the Norris Trophy twice for a reason. It's the plays he makes, he always finds a way to get his shot through to the net and those are just little things that I noticed, especially as an offensive defenceman playing with him."
