Senators' draft pick Drake Batherson scored a hat trick to lead Team Canada to a 7-2 semi-final win over the Czech Republic at the World Juniors in Buffalo. He is now tied with Keiffer Bellows of the US for the goal-scoring lead in the tournament.
While the Senators will wait for Batherson and some other prospects to develop, they will continue to try to find their way in the current season when they host the San Jose Sharks in the first of a back to back, with the league leading Lightning in town for a matchup tomorrow.
The Sharks fell to the Maple Leafs in a shootout in Toronto last night, and Joe Thornton is coming in with a little less beard after having a handful ripped out in a game-opening scrap with Nazem Kadri.
San Jose is in the top 10 in both special teams rankings, with the power play ranked 8th and the penalty kill 2nd. San Jose scored 2 times on the power play en route to a 5-0 win over the Sens the last time they met. It was the sixth game of the seven game road trip in December, and not much has gone right for the Senators since they last met.