It’s the first of two Saturday matinee games in as many weekends, and the first meeting of the season against the Minnesota Wild for the Ottawa Senators.
The Senators snapped a three-game losing skid with a win against Columbus on Thursday night, while the Wild enter Saturday’s affair the winners of two straight.
More headlines have been made off the ice about the Wild though as of late, as they acquired Quinn Hughes from the Vancouver Canucks on Friday for a package including Marco Rossi. Hughes will not play on Saturday.
“I don’t think they had the October that they wanted, but they’ve certainly found their game and they’re a good team,” said Travis Green about the Wild.
“Everyone in the league is aware of how good they can be and how dangerous of a team they are. And obviously, they’re playing well right now, so we’re going to have to back up [Thursday’s] win with another good effort.”
For the Senators, a line shuffle that sparked offence from both the first, second, and third lines was the storyline from Columbus. Three Senators (Drake Batherson, Michael Amadio, and Dylan Cozens) recorded three-point nights in the 6-3 win. David Perron scored the opener, his first in five games, while Amadio’s game-winning marker was his first in 13.
“It’s usually a good building here, a good energy in the building, and they come out fast, so we’re going to try and do the same as we did [Thursday] night,” said Perron. “Scoring the first goal is a big key for any team, we were able to do that [Thursday] night and kind of build on it, so we’ll look to continue that.”
