Game #4 Preview: San Jose Sharks @ Ottawa Senators
By Daniel Bruce
The return of Brady Tkachuk tonight in Ottawa
After prolonged contract talks, Brady Tkachuk makes his return to the Senators lineup tonight when they face their former captain Erik Karlsson and the San Jose Sharks.
120. TSN 5. Thursday, October 21. 91. 2-0-0. 2-1-0. Sharks -115. 7 PM ET
The Senators finally get their star forward back and it appears that Tkachuk will once again be playing with Josh Norris and Drake Batherson, a line that was phenomenal to end the 2020-21 season.
Expected lines vs SJ.
— TSN 1200 (@TSN1200) October 21, 2021
Tkachuk-Norris-Batherson
Paul-Pinto-Brown
Stützle-Tierney-Formenton
Sanford-Shaw-Ennis
Chabot-Zub
Del Zotto-Zaitsev
Holden-JBrown
Murray-Starter
Forsberg
The move has bumped Parker Kelly out of the lineup, as D.J. Smith chose to go with the veteran Tyler Ennis instead. While the defence remains the same since the last game versus the Dallas Stars, Michael Del Zotto and Nikita Zaitsev will once again form the “shutdown” pairing.
Team Leaders
Goals: OTT – Tierney (3), SJ – Dahlén (2)
Assists: OTT – Brown (3), SJ – Karlsson, Meier (3)
Points: OTT – Brown, Ennis, Tierney (3), SJ – Karlsson, Meier (4)
Shots: OTT – Paul (9), SJ – Meier (15)
Hits: OTT – Brown, Zaitsev (10), SJ – Pederson (8)
There are numerous connections between both the San Jose Sharks and the Ottawa Senators, the majority of this is due to the Erik Karlsson trade.
Exactly 1,045 days later, 'The Trade' is now complete:
— Locked On Senators (@SensCentral) July 24, 2021
TO OTTAWA #GoSensGo
Tim Stützle (1st - 2020)
Josh Norris
Mads Søgaard (2nd - 2019)
Chris Tierney
Dylan DeMelo
Rudolfs Balcers
Zack Ostapchuk (2nd - 2021)
TO SAN JOSE #Sharks
Erik Karlsson
Francis Perron
The Sharks will be facing Josh Norris and Tim Stützle for the first time, both players were lost in the Erik Karlsson trade, it may not be easy for Doug Wilson and his staff to sit through this one, seeing lopsided the trade is turning out to be. However, it is good to see Erik Karlsson regaining his form with 4 points in his first 2 games, let’s hope the former Senators captain can regain some of his Norris Trophy form. Also, Senators 2016 2nd Round Pick (42nd overall) Jonathan Dahlén looks to have finally cracked an NHL roster, he scored 2 goals in Sharks last game versus the Montreal Canadiens.
Starting Goalies
Matt Murray
2021-22: Season Stats: N/A
Today also spells the return of Senators starting goaltender Matt Murray, who missed the first few games due to the flu. Murray showed glimpses of his old self during the preseason, posting two starts with a save percentage above 0.920%, he will need more of the same if he wants to remain the starting goaltender.
James Reimer
2021-22 Season Stats: N/A
The former Toronto Maple Leaf, Reimer will be making his first start of the season and has become a reliable backup at this point in his career, last season the 33-year-old veteran played in 22 games with a 0.906 save percentage and a 2.66 goals-against average.