Game Day Notes: Pre-Season Game #4 - Sens @ Canucks

The Sens are out west tonight set to take on the Vancouver Canucks in Abbotsford, B.C. and we've get the latest news and notes following today's morning skate at the University of British Columbia.

A Belleville trio re-united

As mentioned above, the Sens hit the ice at UBC this morning and a familiar line from last season seems to be on the menu for tonight's pre-season game against the Canucks. During the final stretch in Belleville last year, the combo of Logan Brown, Drake Batherson and Nicholas Paul were on fire and nearly lead the Senators' AHL affiliate to their first post-season berth since shifting to Belleville in 2017.
"I wanted to give them a chance to have some familiarity and some success," said head coach D.J. Smith about their line. "Batherson and Brown were both really good at the rookie tournament and I want to give them a little bit of a chance here tonight to see what they can do."
The Senators have a few NHL roster spots up for grabs so tonight could be a great opportunity for one or all of this AHL proven line combination to make their case to start their season in Ottawa.

Lines and Pairing

In addition to last year's dominant Belleville line, the coach has made a few other tweaks to his line-up which includes a few young players like Rudolfs Balcers and Erik Brannstrom getting the opportunity to play alongside some NHL veterans.
"We've got some guys that are fighting for spots here and that are trying to prove themselves," said Smith. "You're getting into these later exhibition games where you're playing mostly against NHL players and that's the best part, you get to prove yourself."
Here's a look at the Sens' projected line-up for this evening in Abbotsford…
Balcers - Tierney - Ryan
Ennis - Anisimov - Duclair
Paul - L. Brown - Batherson
Kelly - Szwarz - Sabourin
Chabot - Zaitsev
Borowiecki - Jaros
Brannstrom - DeMelo

In Goal

The Sens are down to just 3 goalies remaining at training camp and Anders Nilsson gets the nod in net tonight against his former team. Nilsson was solid in his first pre-season outing this year stopping all 13 shots he faced against Toronto in two periods of work in St. John's last week.
Marcus Hogberg, who relieved Nilsson for the final frame against the Maple Leafs in their pre-season opener, draws back-up duties while Craig Anderson will sit this one out entirely.

Where to Watch

It's the first of two 10 p.m. starts this week so you might as well just keep a pot of coffee on hand for the next few days. Tonight's game won't be broadcast on television but you can stream the entire game live on our YouTube page right here:
youtube.com/OttawaSenators
and the Canucks will also be streaming it on
canucks.com
.