If you had told Travis Green back in November that the Ottawa Senators were two points back of a playoff spot with eight games remaining, he’d be perfectly fine with the situation the team now finds itself in.
“We would have taken it, and we’re taking it now,” said Green after morning skate on Thursday morning ahead of a meeting with the Buffalo Sabres. “Does it mean we’re getting in? No, it doesn’t. It means we’ve got to bring it, and we’ve got to play.”
Green might have been a little surprised that they’d be on their 13th defenceman of the season, with the recall and pending season debut of farmhand Cam Crotty coming just hours before the Sens took the ice for the skate. Crotty will play in place of Carter Yakemchuk, who has entered concussion protocol from a hit he suffered in their 6-3 loss to Florida on Tuesday.
“Do we have some injuries? Yeah, we do. But we’ve never talked about it, we’ve never worried about it, and we’re not going to do it now,” said a passionate Green. “And we’re going to worry about tonight, worry about Buffalo, worry about our teammates, not worry about — no offence, but to the white noise and to the talk that’s outside of our locker room.”
Crotty, who has two NHL games under his belt, is excited to join a beleaguered Sens blueline and make his team debut. The defender spoke on Thursday morning of some fond memories he had in the building, such as playing in an intermission game as a kid and being a flag bearer.
“I’m just trying to come in here and help any way I can, but yeah, things like that are kind of full circle moments in some ways, which is pretty cool,” said the 26-year-old. “It’s a lot of excitement, obviously, just for me personally, I’ve watched games in this building, I’ve skated on this ice, but this will be the first time skating in an important game. So it’s a lot of excitement for me.”
Crotty played three seasons at Boston University after being drafted in the third round by Arizona in 2017. He broke into the NCAA as a rookie alongside now-captain Brady Tkachuk. “Yeah, it’s cool, obviously,” said Crotty about the opportunity to play with Tkachuk again after so many years. “It has been a while since being freshmen together, but it’s going to be cool.”
Green said it’s been a challenge with so many fresh faces on the back end, and that the team needs to come together as a five-man unit to help them out, especially on the breakout.
“Yeah, we’ve talked a lot about it,” said Green. “We’re trying to fast track a lot of our defencemen, but again, we’re going to have to have all five guys helping out, being involved in our breakouts, for sure.”
Green also emphatically stood behind Linus Ullmark, who will get the nod in net on Thursday, as the Sens’ starter down the stretch. “He’s our number one goalie, he’s been playing well since he came back, but in saying that, everyone in the room understands that it’s been a bit of a rough year for him off the ice, on the ice,” said Green.
“And I think since he’s come back from his leave, he’s played well, I don’t know what our record is since then, and he needed a rest [on Saturday], simple as that. And there’s not a lot else to say about that, he needed a rest, and he didn’t play that night. And we’re going to have to win some games with Reims in the net too, and we have before.”
Thursday’s game marks the first of a five-game homestand for the Senators, with a chance to snap a three-game losing streak.
“I think we’re excited to play, we know we didn’t play very well last game,” said Green. “But again, we got a little lucky in the games that night, no one else got any points, and like I said, we’ve got eight games left, we’ve put ourselves in a good spot, we’ve scratched and clawed our way to get back, and we’ve just got to keep going.”
