On Wednesday night, the Ottawa Senators will line up against the Anaheim Ducks for the second time in five games.
The two clubs met in Anaheim ten days ago, and while the Sens played well enough to win, they lost in a shootout, 4-3. Trevor Zegras, hockey’s finest player in the shootout (63.2%), clinched the win in the post-overtime skills competition.
Since then, the Ducks have experienced some interesting developments.
Zegras went down with a knee injury that may be long-term. If so, it would be his third serious injury in the past two seasons. He suffered a broken ankle that required surgery last season and played just 31 games.
Anaheim also made a big trade with the New York Rangers, which recently stirred things up for both the Ducks and Senators.
Rangers captain Jacob Trouba was dealt to the Anaheim Ducks on Friday for defenseman Urho Vaakanainen and a fourth-round pick in the 2025 NHL Draft. According to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, Trouba’s new defense partner, Cam Fowler, wanted to be included in the deal with the Rangers.
The Rangers also managed to ruffle feathers in Ottawa. Right around the time of the Trouba deal, Larry Brooks of the New York Post reported that he was told on three occasions that the Rangers were also targeting Sens captain Brady Tkachuk. The Senators have denied that notion loudly, with owner Michael Andlauer throwing around the term “soft tampering” at this week’s NHL Board of Governors meeting.
So it’s been a lively few days for both teams. Since beating Ottawa, the Ducks are 0-3 in their last three games, getting outscored 12-4, including a 3-2 shootout loss to the Montreal Canadiens on Monday. The Senators have fared much better, going 2-1, and if not for the stellar play of New York Islanders goalie Ilya Sorokin on Sunday night, it surely would have been a perfect 3-0.
With all that, the 30th-place Ducks are still only two points behind the 25th-place Senators, so any Sens player who thinks this might be an easier matchup should probably be immediately placed on waivers.
Sens forwards go into this one knowing they have to keep their heads up. Both Trouba and Radko Gudas are famous for their hard, sometimes reckless hits. Trouba’s “accidental” elbows and head shots are the stuff of legend. Former St. Louis Blues defenceman Jordan Schmaltz recently starred in a very funny coaching clinic skit on how to “find the chin” like Trouba does.
The Senators, who haven’t played since Sunday, didn’t have a morning skate on Wednesday. Linus Ullmark will start, riding a 3-0-1 run. Their line combinations on Tuesday looked like this:
Tkachuk-Norris-Batherson
Giroux-Stutzle-Gaudette
Cousins-Pinto-Amadio
Gregor-Ostapchuk-Greig
Sanderson/Hamonic
Chabot/Jensen
Kleven/Bernard-Docker
Face off is 7:30 at Canadian Tire Centre on First Responder’s Night.
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