With four games left until the Olympic break — just one at home — the Ottawa Senators are sticking to their “Win the Day” mantra.
“There’s a lot of belief, I mean we’ve always talked about this, we try and go day-by-day. To be honest, for me sometimes I don’t even know what day it is, I just go day-by-day. I get the schedule and focus on the next one, that’s kind of our mindset,” said Tim Stützle after practicing Friday morning at Canadian Tire Centre.
Stephen Halliday donned a red non-contact jersey and returned to his spot on the fourth line at practice, his first appearance with the group since leaving Sunday’s win with an injury. “He’ll be a possibility for tomorrow,” said Travis Green, who labelled Halliday as day-to-day earlier in the week.
Meanwhile, Ridly Greig did not practice, and Xavier Bourgault took his place on the second line. Green called Greig’s absence a maintenance day.
Since Jan. 14 — when he had three assists in the Sens’ 8-4 win over the Rangers — Greig has nine even-strength points, which ranks tied for second in the league over that span.
Along with Brady Tkachuk (who also has nine during that span) and Dylan Cozens, Greig has helped form a hot second line as of late as the Senators have knocked off the Golden Knights and Avalanche during the homestand.
“I feel there’s some confidence in our room. You can’t manufacture confidence. People talk a lot about it in the NHL, and the best way to get it is to win,” Green told the media.
“But we’ve got to reset and do it again. It’s pretty simple, we played a good game last game and a good game the game before. Got a couple wins, now got to go get another one.”
Friday also marked Thomas Chabot’s 29th birthday. The defenceman is the longest tenured Senator and ranks behind only Erik Karlsson and Wade Redden in franchise history for points from a blueliner.
“Don’t know where time’s going, but no, like we said this morning, goes by fast when you’re having a good time every day coming in here. So, another birthday, at home now in Ottawa, and it’s fun to be here,” said Chabot, who also offered a veteran’s mentality on the team’s push for the playoffs.
“It’s been tight since game five of the season, and it seems like it’ll be like that for the rest of the way. Unfortunately, with losing a few games, we’ve dug ourselves in a little bit, but like I said, it goes back to us in here. We know what we have, and we know we can win a lot of hockey games when we play the way we’ve been lately. So as long as we do that I’m a firm believer we’ll get it done.”
