As they get set for their third game in four nights, the Senators would welcome a spark from Stephen Halliday, as the 24-year-old moves to the first line with Tim Stützle and Drake Batherson. Stützle said Halliday — who has two goals and an assist through seven games — can add skill to the line.
“He’s a really skilled guy. He’s a big body, can get in front of the net, and he’s a smart player,” said Stützle after the Senators took morning skate on Thursday.
“We’ve been known to change the lines up around here, so nothing new, and yeah, we’ll see how it goes,” laughed Batherson, who added that the Senators were upset about Tuesday’s 7-2 loss on home ice, but have to move on.
“You’ve got to move on, you can’t dwell on that. We’d been playing some good hockey up until that game, so just got to get back to that tonight, and should be a good test against the Islanders.”
Travis Green said that he is trying to find a spot for Halliday, who had previously been centring the fourth line.
“I think our fourth line, five-on-five, hasn’t been great. Hally’s got some special skills, offensively, and [we’ve] slipped him out there now and then on the left side,” said Green.
“You know, just thought it was fitting tonight, with the way the Islanders’ lineup is. They’re got four pretty good lines, and they’ll play them all,” said Green.
“I don’t look at their team, and say, okay, this is your fourth line, your third line. They’ve got a lot of depth there. We feel that we need four lines that we can trust in any spot.
The Senators, meanwhile, will be mirroring that four-line approach tonight. Ridly Greig centred Warren Foegele and Fabian Zetterlund during line rushes at morning skate, while Claude Giroux skated alongside Dylan Cozens and Andre Burakovsky.
“I don’t even know who is going to be our fourth line tonight, but I think when we set our lines like this, any line can play against anyone, and we’ll see how it goes. You know I’m not afraid to change them quick, so we’ll see.”
They will also welcome the defensive contributions of Artem Zub and Cam Crotty back to the lineup, who both return from injuries. Zub left Game 1 of the Sens’ first round playoff series after injuring his knee on while attempting to hit Seth Jarvis. Thursday will be his first game in 180 days.
“Good to be back,” said Zub. “It’s a long break for me, it’s probably maybe a little bit [simple] approach for the first game… It’s a good start [for the team]. Guys showing good effort. Last game was not great. But probably trying for a good response today, and back to working hard.”
