It’s been 25 days without an NHL game. That stretch ends Wednesday night, when 16 of the league’s 32 teams are in action. On Thursday, each of the remaining teams return, including the Ottawa Senators, who will welcome the Detroit Red Wings to Canadian Tire Centre.
“I think the whole league’s probably ready to get back into action, for sure,” said Travis Green after the Senators practiced on Wednesday morning, the team’s sixth practice in that stretch.
“We had a lot of good work, wasn’t overtaxing, there were parts of the last 10 days that were obviously hard and needed, but I think our guys are excited to play.”
Nikolas Matinpalo donned a green no-contact jersey for the practice, the first he’d appeared in since winning bronze with Team Finland at the Olympics. Green said that Matinpalo was “a little banged up,” and deemed his status day-to-day.
“I played a couple of days ago, so it’s going to be maybe a little bit easier than some guys here,” said Matinpalo about how ready he was for game action. “But [I’ve] just tried to get [used to] the time zone here and ready to go.”
Matinpalo appeared in four of five games for Finland, scoring the opening goal in their preliminary win over Sweden. “Maybe second biggest goal of my life after my first NHL goal,” said Matinpalo about his wrister from the point that beat Filip Gustavsson.
“Going into the Olympics I know that I haven’t been playing much here, so I was really happy that I got games there too,” he said.
Meanwhile, Tim Stützle didn’t practice, though Green said that Stützle had been skating on his own and was sick on Wednesday. Green said that he also expected Brady Tkachuk and Jake Sanderson to return on Wednesday night and take part in morning skate with the team on Thursday.
