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The Ottawa Senators are fresh off an outstanding game in Calgary, as the Sens 2nd line got the job done offensively in their 4-1 win. Unlike their game back on New Year's Day in Toronto, the Sens didn't come out flat, it was the absolute opposite as Ottawa created turnovers and carried the play from puck drop. Unfortunately, they lost Connor Brown and Scott Sabourin to injury, while the Sens hope Tim Stutzle is able to return from the covid protocol list for tonight in Edmonton. It was great to see a complete team effort after the long layoff and after hearing all week how the Sens looked terrific in practice in terms of their pace and execution, it definitely carried to the game in Calgary. The one aspect that impressed me most with Ottawa in their win was how they played a game of initiate and dictate. This team has lacked an identity most of the season and if the Sens can duplicate this aspect on most nights, they will be in most of their games as they'll probably be playing every second night once their 11 games that were postponed get rescheduled.

Matt Murray was the Sens best player and if he can be this focussed in the New Year, Ottawa will win its fair share of games and give fans some hope for the rest of the season! JBD and Erik Brannstrom had solid games on defense, if they can play with this kind of consistency on most nights, this type of experience will prove vital for this team next year. It was nice to see Nick Paul and Connor Brown have big nights as they've struggled with consistency most of the season.

On another note, Ottawa has had a scout at every Nashville game since the Christmas break. The Preds were following Ottawa closely before all the postponements. This leads me to think Nashville is looking for depth in their bottom 6 forwards. Chris Tierney and Zach Sanford are the 2 players I'm told the Preds have been watching as they want to add depth for a playoff run. Don't look now but Nashville is 1st overall in the Western Conference! Sens fans, what would you hope to get in return for either of these players from Nashville?!

Lines from practice on Friday -

Tkachuk Norris Batherson
Formenton Paul Ennis
Sanford Gambrell Watson
Bishop Tierney Gaudette

Chabot JBD
Holden Zub
Brannstrom JBrown
Heatherington Mete

Updated Injury List -
Angus Crookshank - Knee
Colin White - Shoulder
Shane Pinto - Shoulder
Nikita Zaitsev - Heel
Scott Sabourin - Dislocated Finger
Connor Brown - Broken Jaw
Tim Stützle - Covid
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Taking a look at the Belleville Senators this week, they lost on Wednesday night to the Marlies but won last night in a shootout over Rochester. On Wednesday Egor Sokolov and Lassi Thomson scored while Gustavsson stopped 27 of 30 shots. Last night, Sogaard got the start in the goal and stopped 21 of 24 shots in the win, with Sokolov scoring again(4 goals in his last 3 games after going scoreless in 9 games). Reinhardt and Kastelic scored as well, so it's nice to see the BSens youth contributing in a big way in both games. Thomson has scored 3G/2A in 7 games since being sent down while being an impressive +8 in that span. They play Rochester again tonight, before heading to Syracuse Monday for a 1pm start as it's Martin Luther King Day in the US.

One note that I found interesting when looking up player stats, since MDZ was sent down to Belleville he has 3G/5A in 6 games so far.

TSN now has the CHL rights and last night Kingston hosted Sudbury. I tuned in to watch Sens prospect Leevi Meriläinen. He had a game he'd love to have back after allowing 5 goals on 15 shots. His numbers for the season - 14-16-1 with a 3.47 GAA and .887 save %.

Today's Sens game can be seen on Sportsnet at 10pm EST.

After tonight's game in Edmonton, Ottawa will be home to Buffalo on Tuesday night before hitting the road Thursday for 3 games in 4 nights(Pitt/Wash/CLB).

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