Game Day Notes: Sens vs. Flyers

As the Sens get set to kick off the first of five consecutive home games at Canadian Tire Centre tonight, here's the latest on their projected line-up against the Flyers.

Home debut for Tkachuk

After missing the team's first two games of the season, Brady Tkachuk finally made his NHL debut on Monday in Boston. The 4th overall selection in 2018 played 14:33 and registered a pair of shots on goal in his first career National Hockey League game and despite dropping a 6-3 decision for the Bruins, he was happy with how it went.
"It was a pretty special day," recalled Tkachuk. "I wish we could have come away with a better outcome but it was amazing to finally get into a game after having to watch the first two."
"It's going to be really exciting to get to play in front of the home crowd tonight," he continued. "I got to experience the atmosphere at the home opener where I watched the first two periods from the crowd with my dad so I'm pretty excited to feel it from ice level tonight."
With his first NHL game in the books, Tkachuk will officially step on the ice for the first time as a member of the Ottawa Senators tonight and he's excited to cross another milestone off the list. He had 25 family members and friends at the game for his debut on Monday and while that group will shrink significantly this evening, he's still looking forward to having some familiar faces in the crowd.
"Just two people coming tonight," said Tkachuk. "My grandfather is coming in along with my uncle who's my agent. A bit smaller of a group than Monday but I'm still looking forward to going out to dinner and spending some time with them after the game."

Up Front

The Sens forwards appear to be reasonably healthy heading into tonight's game against the Flyers. Ryan Dzingel, who was a game-time decision in Boston before ultimately playing and scoring his first two goals of the season, was absent from this morning's skate but head coach Guy Boucher shared that he's "very hopeful" that he'll be able to play tonight.

With the Sens having to juggle some minor injuries up front over the first three games, a few forwards have bounced up and down the depth chart to help fill the voids. Colin White, who has spent time on the wing the first few games, is moving back to centre tonight but credits his ability to play all three forward positions for some of the early season opportunities he's received.
"Anytime you can have some versatility in your game it's a good thing," said White. "Knowing that I can play anywhere in this line-up is good for me but I'm still the most comfortable at centre."
White also shared that while the Sens currently sit at 1-1-1, he believes they could have won all of their first three games with a few more bounces going their way and points to the positivity in the locker room as a big strength to start the year.
"Everybody in our room is really happy with the start we've had. We're having fun together…even though the losses," White said. "We're still here working and having fun so if that wasn't the case then I think we'd have a problem but that's not an issue here."
Here's a look at the Sens projected line-up for tonight…
Tkachuk - Duchene - Boedker
Dzingel - Smith - Stone
Formenton - Tierney - Ryan
Paajarvi - Pyatt - White

On Defence

There have been a few nice surprises on defence for the Senators to start 2018-19. Max Lajoie turned some heads scoring in his first NHL game,

over the weekend and currently leads the team in scoring and Dylan DeMelo, who was acquired from the San Jose Sharks at the beginning of training camp, looks to be fitting in well with his new team and has 3 points (1G, 2A) in 3 games played.
"The transition has been pretty smooth. I'm getting a good opportunity here and lots of ice time and that goes a long way," said DeMelo. "I had a good summer with my off-season training and I think that's carried over to the start of the season. I'm happy with it so far but not satisfied. It's only been 3 games so I just have to keep doing what I'm doing and be consistent."

DeMelo also currently leads the league in plus/minus with a +7 rating to start the season. While that number is obviously impressive, the 25-year-old defender likes to keep everything in perspective.
"It's nice but it's only 3 games," DeMelo said with a smile. "That's a funky stat too. Sometimes you think you've had a great game but you have a couple of minuses. I don't think it's necessarily a correlation on how you play but something that you talk about when you do well and you don't talk about it when it's the other way around."
And here's how the defence pairings look tonight against the Flyers…
Chabot - DeMelo
Lajoie - Ceci
Borowiecki - Wideman

In Goal

Craig Anderson (1-0-1) is back in goal for the Senators tonight and is coming off a strong showing in Toronto on Saturday where he turned aside 34 of the 37 shots he faced en route to picking up his first win of the season.
"It doesn't really matter what you did last game," said Anderson. "When you come to the rink the morning of a game, it's a fresh start. It's 'what have you done today?' and 'earn your ice-time' and that's my mentality."

Where to Watch

It's a 7:30 p.m. game time tonight at Canadian Tire Centre and there are still some seats available so grab some now and join us for puck drop.
Click here
for more details on tickets for tonight.
Aren't able to make it to the rink? Then head out and catch tonight's game at Buster's Bar on Carling Ave. where they'll be serving up Molson Canadian drafts for just $5.75 all evening.