The Ottawa Senators will face another test on Wednesday night as the powerful Colorado Avalanche come to town. The Sens will be looking for redemption after their last meeting with the Avs ended with an 8-2 loss — their biggest of the season. The Senators, meanwhile, are coming off their biggest win of the season, a 7-1 thrashing of Vegas.
“Obviously a really good team over there, they’ve got some great players, they’ve been playing well all year,” said Drake Batherson after morning skate on Wednesday morning. “Obviously didn’t like the last game against them, so hopefully we can build off our last game against Vegas and bring that into tonight.”
While Batherson was held off the game sheet in that 7-1 win, Travis Green spoke Wednesday morning to the media about liking the forward’s game. “Actually, I talked to Drake this morning and asked him how his game was,” said Green.
“You know, it’s funny, a lot of people base a game on points and assists, and I didn’t know if he had a goal or an assist, but I thought it was one of his better games as of late. When he’s playing on his toes and he’s aggressive, there’s a certain look that he has in his game that I think is his best game, and it’s usually when he’s playing aggressive, not just with the puck but away from the puck. Even his backchecking, when he’s on his game he wins a lot of lanes, separates people from pucks, and I thought last game was a step in the right direction to getting his game back to where we want it to be and where he wants it to be.”
Batherson has studied tonight’s opponents closely. The Nova Scotian trains with Avalanche star Nathan MacKinnon in the offseasons and follows him and his team closely during the season. “We pretty much talk every day, honestly,” said Batherson.
“Obviously a really good friend, he watches a lot of my games, and then it’s perfect for me, I get to watch a lot of his games since they’re on later. Really good friend, someone I’ve looked up to since a young age, and yeah, we’re excited to go head-to-head tonight.”
