Linus Ullmark will make his first start in 35 days on Saturday night as the Senators host the Devils for their final home game before the Olympic break. Before his absence, Ullmark had played to a record of 14-8-5 with an .881 save percentage and 2.95 goals-against average.
“Yeah, it’s huge, obviously it’s been a while, good to have him around here the past couple weeks, and if he’s in there tonight, we’ll be fired up and we’re all excited for the game,” said Drake Batherson after morning skate on Saturday.
“Obviously it means a lot, he’s been working really hard to come back,” said Tim Stützle.
“We want to play good in front of our goalies and also give them confidence. I think James [Reimer] has been playing great, and it’s been awesome to see, and as a group I think we just play better as well as a team in front of them when we’re more structured and don’t give up grade-A chances as much. It always helps if we play good defensively and create a lot of offence.”
Stephen Halliday will also likely draw back into the Senators lineup, said Travis Green after the skate. Halliday missed Wednesday’s game after leaving Sunday’s win over Vegas with an upper-body injury.
“I think the team’s played a great game vs. Colorado, and I’m just kind of trying to come in and kind of do more of the same, like I said when I first got here in Nashville,” said Halliday, who recorded his first three-point game and first multi-goal game on Sunday — in under eight minutes of ice time.
“I just kind of tried to get better when I got sent down to Belleville after training camp, they kind of had some stuff for me to work on, get stronger, I really tried to take advantage of the amount of faceoffs I was taking down there,” he added.
“I thought the growth of my game, especially the details have really grown, and I think that’s what you have to have to play in the NHL every day.”
