ottawa senators take another hit with lars eller injured after blocking a shot
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ottawa senators centre lars eller reaches for the puck between san jose sharks’ ty dellandrea (10) and timothy liljegren during a game in november.
the associated press
the hurt won’t stop for the ottawa senators.
the senators added another casualty to the injury list on thursday when they lost lars eller to a lower-body ailment after he blocked a shot from blueliner zach werenski in the second period of the 6-3 victory over the columbus blue jackets.
the veteran centre wasn’t on the ice on friday at the grand casino arena in saint paul and he won’t face the minnesota wild in game 2 of this road trip on saturday starting at 2 p.m.
senators head coach travis green told reporters on friday that eller would be out for an extended period, but didn’t provide an exact timeline.
“we won’t see him the rest of this road trip, for sure,” green said.
that means eller won’t face the winnipeg jets on monday, either. the expectation is that he’ll be sent back to ottawa for further examination and the senators likely will have to recall a forward to have an extra available on the road trip.
to make matters worse, top centre tim stutzle — who scored twice in the victory over the jackets — didn’t take part in the skate for maintenance reasons. that meant assistant coach ben sexton skated at centre on the fourth line between travis macdermid and nick cousins.
the senators’ depth already has been tested without third-line centre shane pinto and no. 2 defenceman thomas chabot. this is another twist in a season in which the senators have played only three games with their full complement of forwards in 30 contests.
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defenceman jake sanderson wasn’t on the ice in minnesota, but he played 27 minutes 17 seconds in columbus. he took a maintenance day before the senators left on this trip as well.
if eller, who missed two games for personal reasons and returned to the lineup for the 4-3 loss to the new jersey devils last tuesday, is out for any length of time, that will make the push to get back into the playoff picture in the eastern conference even more difficult.
stephen halliday, who was called up from the american hockey league affiliate in belleville and was scratched against the jackets, will return to the lineup against the wild. he has shown in seven national hockey league games this season that he’s getting more comfortable.
losing pinto has also been a big blow. he’s ranked third on the senators in goals behind stutzle (14) and drake batherson (13) with 12 goals in 27 games this season. there is no timetable for pinto’s return from a lower-body ailment, but it may not happen before the nhl’s holiday break.
the game against the wild will be a tough one for pinto to miss. minnesota general manager bill guerin is in charge of the selections for the united states olympic hockey team and this would have been an opportunity for pinto to show first-hand what he can do.
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to make matters worse, he was injured in the first period of a game against the new york rangers on dec. 4 at the canadian tire centre with american team head coach mike sullivan behind the opposition bench. pinto is on the radar screen, but will have to wait until new year’s eve to find out if he’s going to the games in italy.
captain brady tkachuk already has been named to the u.s. team and sanderson should be considered a lock after the 4 nations face-off last february. we do believe that tkachuk is doing everything possible, bending the ear of team usa officials to have his two teammates on the roster.
but the focus for the senators right now is to get back to their winning ways, especially with a little boost of confidence to kick off this trip.
the senators woke up ranked no. 14 in the eastern conference on friday. they are only three points outside of the final wild-card spot in the conference, but have only four wins in their past 10 games. the win against the jackets ended a three-game losing streak, which matched a season high.
now, the senators need to get back to playing the kind of consistent game that has made them successful. they need more timely goal-scoring, to be better defensively and to somehow figure out a way to improve the 31st-ranked penalty kill in the league.
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“i thought we played some good hockey at home and didn’t get rewarded,” said batherson, who had a three-point effort in columbus. “we’ve just got to clean a few things up for the next one.”
the senators need to start stringing wins together to climb back up the standings. the effort in columbus was a step in the right direction. now they need to have another one in minny.
the wild, who have a 7-2-1 record in the past 10 games, have been among the nhl’s best teams over the past month.
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