The Ottawa Senators will again turn to new forward lines on Wednesday night against Utah. Drake Batherson and Dylan Cozens flanked Tim Stützle on the first line at morning skate, while Shane Pinto moved up to the second line between Brady Tkachuk and Fabian Zetterlund.
“Nothing out of his normal game, he’s capable of playing the wing,” said Green about what he’s looking for after Cozen’s move up from the second-line centre slot. “All our centremen are capable of playing all over, should be a good combination.”
Last game, the Sens put 37 shots on net against Detroit but only three past John Gibson. “I liked our game last game, we’ve got to do it again and get the results we want,” said Travis Green after morning skate on Wednesday morning.
That 5-3 loss against Detroit on Monday was a “weird” one, as Claude Giroux put it following the game. “I think what he meant by weird, was that after the first period, it felt like we probably should have been up by three instead of down by three,” said Green.
“But I loved how we clawed our way back. We played a pretty good game.”
Wednesday’s game in Salt Lake City will mark the first of a back-to-back (the Sens play Colorado on Thursday night) — and the first of four such in January. “It’s a big road trip, obviously, two good teams, with some altitude, too,” said Drake Batherson.
“We’re excited, and yeah, we’re just going to try to bring our game for the full 60. We liked our games at times last game, but we’ll just try to play the full game like that.”
Batherson, Cozens, and Stützle have played just over 34 minutes as a line this season, but with Cozens at centre and Stützle on the wing. “It’ll be a different look I think, and yeah, we’ll see how it goes,” said Batherson. “Two good players and we’ll see if it clicks.”
Stützle is riding a 13-game point streak into Wednesday night, with a chance to equal his career-high of 14 games (set during January, February, and March last season). “He’s playing awesome, it feels like every year he just gets that much better,” said Batherson.
“It’s exciting for a fan and as a teammate just to see the steps he’s taken. He continues to stay hungry and get even better. No surprise just with the way he can carry the play and his skillset that he’s riding a point streak like that.”
