We’ve all heard the sports saying a thousand times: ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.’
As winners of five games in a row, the Ottawa Senators do not seem to be broken. But in the third quarter in Calgary on Thursday night, it was clear that head coach Travis Green saw some things he didn’t like.
No, the Green machine was not broken, but some parts were leaking oil.
The Senators still got the win, their seventh in eight games, and Green was happy to get it. However, he said after the game, “Maybe we would have lost that game (if it had happened) three weeks ago.”
So, despite the success, Green is expected to make some changes to his lineup for Saturday night’s game in Vancouver. According to TSN 1200 radio, the Sens morning skate lineup looked like this:
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Tkachuk – Stützle – Giroux
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Greig – Norris – Batherson
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Cousins - Pinto – Amadio
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Gregor – Ostapchuk – Gaudette
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Sanderson – Hamonic
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Chabot-Jensen
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Kleven – JBD
With the Sens playing in Edmonton on Sunday, Leevi Merilainen was expected to start one of the two games. Instead of continuing to ride on the experienced, well-rested, and hot hand of Linus Ullmark, Green opted to start the 22-year-old Merilainen on Saturday night.
If we were to guess at Green’s motives, he might be thinking that the young goaltender’s first NHL start in a year and a half shouldn’t be against Connor McDavid.
Ottawa’s other changes include dropping winger Adam Gaudette, who scored the Senators’ second goal. Gaudette played just one shift in the third period in Calgary, and after a hot start, has just one goal in his last nine games. So despite this being Vancouver’s homecoming for Gaudette, he will be on the fourth line against the Canucks.
Ridly Greig scored in Calgary, his first goal in 20 games, and that was enough to get him back into the top six on Saturday night. He will slide alongside Josh Norris and Drake Batherson.
Green was already playing the line when Brady Tkachuk came out of the mouth with stitches. When Tkachuk returned with a swollen lip in the third period, he was moved from the Norris/Batherson line and replaced by Gaudette with Tim Stützle and Claude Giroux.
It looks like Green will stick to that tonight. This allows Giroux to return to his natural position over the right wing, and Gregig to return to his natural left side.
For the second game in a row, the battle of two teams trying to hold on to the last spot of the cards in their respective conference. In their meeting in Ottawa last month, Jake DeBrusk had two goals and an assist to help the Canucks hand the Sens their fifth straight loss.
Since that game, Ottawa has turned around, posting a 9-2-1 record in its last 12 games.
Canucks projected roster (from NHL.com):
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Jake DeBrusk – Elias Pettersson – Conor Garland
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Phillip Di Giuseppe – JT Miller – Brock Boeser
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Dakota Joshua – Pius Suter – Linus Karlsson
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Danton Heinen – Teddy Blueger – Kiefer Sherwood
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Quinn Hughes – Tyler Myers
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Carson Soucy – Noah Juulsen
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Derek Forbort – Vincent Desharnais
Former Senator Erik Brannstrom is expected to be in good health.
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