A one-day business trip during the holidays will see the Ottawa Senators look to take care of some pressing affairs — a date with the Boston Bruins, with the chance to win their fourth straight game for the first time all year.
The Senators are coming off a wild and wacky afternoon win over Chicago back in Ottawa, which saw three goal reviews (disallowing two Senators goals). Saturday also saw the return of Thomas Chabot, who brilliantly plucked off a clearing attempt at the Chicago blueline and fed Brady Tkachuk for the second of his two goals on the night.
“No better feeling than playing hockey, honestly,” said Chabot after the game. “It was a long 28, or I guess 27 days, but I’m happy to be back, I’m happy to be playing hockey. Obviously, great game by the whole team tonight, so it was fun to be back at home in front of our fans and playing again.”
Chabot ended up playing 26:37 in his return, his second-most ice time of the year and more than head coach Travis Green had projected for him in his return.
Of course, that was because the Senators lost another defenceman in Chabot’s return. Tyler Kleven left the game after falling awkwardly and will not play in Boston, though Green said the injury was “nothing major.”
On the offensive side, both David Perron and Brady Tkachuk contributed two-goal efforts.
The two-goal game was the second straight for Tkachuk, after a goal initially credited to Kleven was swapped to the captain after the game. Tim Stützle continued his torrid pace, scoring on a shorthanded breakaway after having a goal disallowed and adding two assists.
Stützle, Tkachuk, and right-winger Fabian Zetterlund — who also scored — combined for seven points and limited the opposition to zero shots on goal while on the ice together.
“I felt like we just kept it simple, putting pucks behind them and not really turning over anything,” said Stützle of his line’s success. “Yeah, just hunting pucks, I think [Tkachuk] did a good job of keeping the puck down low, and yeah, you make them tired like that.”
