It seemed like it took a lifetime for the Ottawa Senators to begin their season, but when they finally did on Saturday night in Toronto, the storylines were aplenty.
Between Thomas Chabot scoring the opening goal in his first game as a captain and father, Claude Giroux’s legs seemingly getting faster at age 38 and Stephen Halliday scoring his first career game-winning goal, there were lots of positives from the win that the Sens will look to take forward into Monday night’s contest in Boston.
Drawing into the lineup for the first time this season will be Cam Crotty, who will replace Jake Sanderson on the blueline. Sanderson returned home to Ottawa after leaving the opener with an injury and will miss at least the next two games.
“Just go out there, keep it simple, compete, come in and just have a positive effect,” said Crotty when asked what his mindset was heading into the game.
“I think it’s always just trying to improve and continue that into the season. These games obviously matter more than the preseason. Obviously, watching last game it was a really good game, lots of compete, and we got the win, so tonight is just looking to build off that.”
Just like last season, injuries have forced blueliners Tyler Kleven and Jordan Spence into larger workloads. Both finished the game with over 20 minutes of ice time, behind only Chabot (27:06).
“I think it’s the same approach that we had last season. Obviously, Sandy’s a great player, it’s a big loss, but we’re trying to win games here, and everyone has to do their job,” said Spence.
“We’re pretty focused on that tonight, and we’re just going to take it one game at a time and go from there.”
