Game 50 Preview + Open Thread: Minnesota Wild @ Ottawa Senators

After losing two games in a row, the Sens are itching to get back to winning games. While they’ve been missing some of their key players in Josh Norris and Drake Batherson; the remaining star players like Brady Tkachuk and Tim Stützle have stepped up and provided some consistent goal scoring.

Matt Murray will not be playing in tonight’s game as he is enjoying the birth of his new baby boy last night. Anton Forsberg who has been playing well will be in nets tonight in an attempt to further increase his trade value.

Thomas Chabot who would be playing in his 300th NHL game tonight is a game time decision. The other change will be Dylan Gambrell who “tweaked something” in practice this morning, we are still waiting to see who gets the call up to replace him. Connor Brown is officially out of his face shield so that should automatically mean he’ll start scoring more goals. Some more encouraging news from practice was the presence of this gem amongst the skating group:

Josh Norris back on the ice with the team for the first time. pic.twitter.com/j1Ki7bazkq

— TSN 1200 (@TSN1200) February 22, 2022

Morning skate lineup:

Sens morning skate lines.
Tkachuk Stützle Gaudette
Sanford Paul CBrown
Kelly Gambrell Watson
Formenton Tierney Ennis

Chabot Zub
Holden Zaitsev
Brannstrom JBrown

Forsberg

— TSN 1200 (@TSN1200) February 22, 2022

Game Notes

• Thomas Chabot is a game changer, but from an offensive point of view he is crucial for the Sens PP. If he does play tonight, it will be interesting to see how much of a difference he can make.
• The Sens have played a grueling schedule lately while missing their top guys offensively and defensively. In that stretch, they showed that they can fight through injuries and fatigue. Now that their schedule will be less crazy, let’s hope they can get some consistency back.
• Tim Stützle is finding some scoring consistency, and if the Sens are to finish this season strong, this has to continue. Stützle has to become a player the Sens can rely on more heavily and the injuries to Batherson and Norris further expose the need for him and Tkachuk to step up.
• You can catch the game at 7:00PM on TSN5 or listen live on TSN1200/

Game Stats

Team Stats

Player Stats