Tim Stützle Leads Ottawa Senators In Brady Tkachuk’s Absence + Sens Game Day Preview vs LA Kings

Tim Stützle Leads Ottawa Senators In Brady Tkachuk’s Absence + Sens Game Day Preview vs LA Kings

On today’s show, it’s a Senators game day. Ottawa looking for revenge in a rematch against the Los Angeles Kings. We’ll take a look at both teams lineups, players to watch, and how the Ottawa Centers have been able to win without their captain, Brady Kachchuck. This is Brady Kachchuck and you’re listening to the Locked On Senators podcast. You’re Locked on Senators, your daily podcast on the Ottawa Senators, part of the Locked On podcast network, your team every day. Welcome. You are locked on to the Ottawa Senators. I’m Ross Levitan alongside Brandon Pillar and today’s episode’s brought to you by FanDuel. Download the FanDuel app now by visiting fanuel.com and win $300 in bonus bets if your first $5 bet wins. Today is Monday, November 24th and Pillsey this week is going to be a grind for the Ottawa Senators. The road trip continues. Every game is at a different time it feels like, but it all feels a little bit easier just a bit when your team’s coming off back-to-back wins. Yeah, it helps for sure when you start off a road trip with 3-2 wins both in regulation and you got the LA Kings tonight in LA. Then you got the Vegas Golden Knights in Vegas. That has not been a place the Ottawa Senators have found much success. Then you finish off this week with the St. Louis Blues in St. Louis. All different times, 9:00 p.m. Eastern, 10 p.m. Eastern, 400 p.m. Eastern. So, kind of a wild one to say the least, but they’ve got the confidence not only from those wins, Pelysey, but how they won those games both late in regulation pulling ahead enough with the overtimes. That had to be the messaging. Let’s go out there and win it right now. The game winner on Saturday. Beautiful. All five players touched the puck and it was the last touch to just tap it in. Just sitting on the line there. Wasn’t going to move either way. And Ottawa with a fortunate bounce, if you will, that John Klingberg’s stick touches Nadulkovich’s pad and doesn’t allow him to clear that puck off the line. So Stutla takes advantage of that. He’s up to 16 points in nine career games now against the Sharks. He was my locked player and he was brilliant and has been the entire time that Brady Kachchuck’s been on the lineup. We looked into the numbers today and every single key area, he’s either first or second on the team in the 18 games without Brady Kachchuck. He’s got 11 goals, 20 points, three game-winning goals, tied for first in shots, and the one thing that he’s third in Pilzy is faceoff percentage, and he’s 57% in the dot. Ridley Greg and Klo Jaru higher than him there. But he has already established himself as a superstar in my books long ago. But he’s even impressing me with the way that he’s been able to go above and beyond in a time of need. Yeah. I mean, he was the player you chose as the guy that needs to step up most in Brady Kachchuck’s absence. And he had a nice game up against the San Jose Sharks, your locked on player. And the player I said needs to step up the most in Brady Kachchuck’s absence. And my locked on player for last game was Fabian Zedtherland. I mean, finally we got to see Zetherland score a goal that we’ve been waiting to see him score pretty much all season. Sure, he had that power play goal up against the Bruins, but that was garbage time goal. And on the power play, this one just walks in and rips it up against his old team. and your prediction or your need for a player to stand up in Brady’s absence is looking a lot better than mine with the way Timmy’s been playing versus the way that Fabian Zetterland has been producing. I’m not saying Fabian Zedman’s been playing necessarily bad, but only five points in 21 games. But you got to think an emotional goal like that. And this didn’t go off his shin pad or it wasn’t a rebound garbage goal. This was a goalcorer’s goal. You got to think that that’s going to boost Fabian Zetland’s morale and get the confidence going and hopefully the floodgates open and he starts producing a lot more points. Now, I feel like I said that after the Boston goal. Let’s let the floodgates open for Fab and Zetterland. But they need that because the quick strike offensive ability. It just changes the momentum in a game, especially in that time where Ottawa had coughed up after scoring the opening goal two in a row and it felt like San Jose was kind of getting to their game what they wanted to see and then Zetherland’s goal just kind of reset everything and allowed Ottawa to get themselves together for a really solid third period. Ottawa was physically dominant in that game, too. felt like they had their their bully attitude on like they were running through guys. Hayden Hodgson is quickly becoming everything we thought that Curtis McDermott would be. He’s just way faster, but he hits to hurt. He hits through people and we obviously hope that Mario Ferraro was all right after that really tough collision where he hits his head off the boards after taking the hit. That guy’s a tough cookie. He came out for the second period. He missed like five minutes after taking that hit. But Hodgson is uh is a nice little energy jolt on the fourth line. But the Senators right now, like the way they’re playing, I just have confidence any night. Now, LA is going to be a tough test. We’ll get into a more detailed game day preview in the next segment. Lineup stats, players to watch, all that good stuff. But what they’re doing right now, it can’t be overlooked or overstated how impressive they’ve been without Brady Kachchuck. Like imagine telling a Sens fan after the first game in his absence where they lost eight to four in Buffalo that they would only lose three more regulation games in the next 17 and one of them would be a one- nothing game. I mean, I think every single player on that roster, top to bottom, deserves a lot of credit for taking a little bit more of the rope than they would have had in the past. And we aren’t privy to the conversations inside the locker room. But you got to think that there’s been a little extra room in between periods because Brady’s obviously a big vocal leader and a guy who’s got a bit of that raw raw to him, you’d imagine. But there’s been, I’d imagine, a bunch of guys, Timmy, Drake, guys who have been there for a while, but who maybe feel like they’re able to take on more of a leadership role in the room. It’s showing on the ice. Like the way they’ve stuck together and the way these games have gone. Those would have been two regulation losses tied in the third period with 10 minutes left in both games. Like, chalk it up as a loss the last couple of seasons. So, they’re rewriting the way that the perception of the fans have of them, the way they’ve been able to play. So, I just think it’s incredible to see and the growth of these players. I’ve seen some say that like, are you worried about putting Brady back because they’re playing so well? I laugh at that because of course you want to have your best players in and Brady Kachchuck is the most valuable player per LOSP on the Senators roster. It’s just a a no-brainer that that he goes back on the top line when he’s back. And maybe we’re burying the lead, but this is the week Brady Kachchuck is expecting to come back this week. Will it be tonight? No. Will it be Wednesday? No. Maybe. No. No. No. No. No. Billsy’s already got his stall ready in St. Louis for Friday. Yeah. I mean, that just makes so much more sense. Uh, I think you don’t want to rush him back either, especially Brandon Pillar, not a doctor, but I feel like um a thumb injury is something that if you if you rush back too early, it could maybe be aggravated or something like that. So, I don’t want to play around with that. And I just think Brady Kachchuck, obviously, the St. Louis connection, let’s make that emotional tie for him so he gets a bit of a boost there. So, let’s wait till Friday in my opinion. Little throwback here. Remember in Mighty Ducks where Adam Banks has to show that his wrist is okay by flipping the stick in the locker room and there’s the really like important music going on. Like can he do it for Brady Kachchuck? Are we going to make him give a thumbs up to be able to play? I thought you were going to say a thumb war up against uh Curtis McDermad or or one of the one of those guys or Tyler Cleven or something like that. You got to survive a thumb war to move past that. No, I just want him to be able to give a thumbs up and say, “I’m ready to go. Get me in the lineup. F1 first shift. Go bang bodies.” Yeah. Mentally, I have no doubt, Ross, that he is ready to go. I just don’t And we cannot see him get into a fight anytime soon uh with a thumb injury. That’s That’s for sure. Unless Unless he’s been working on throwing lefty because maybe that’ll help. That was one of the best parts of Chris Neil’s fighting because midfight he’d just grab you with the other hand and the guy’s like, “Wait, what’s going on?” And by that time, you think that you’ve got seven lefts going in your kitchen. But Brady will not be in the lineup tonight. We aren’t sure about Thomas Shabbat either. To your point where you don’t want Brady to come back too soon, Thomas Shabbat comes back and it looked like he reagravated something in that San Jose game. He left, did not return. Nicholas Matt and Paulo left the Anaheim game and didn’t play in San Jose, but one of them’s playing tonight because Ottawa sent Lassie Thompson back to Belleville and at the at last glance and I’m actually heading to Belleville sends practice in an hour. So, I’ll get you an update whether or not Lassie Thompson made his way to Winnipeg. Well, I think you just put the LOSP lineup curse on that one because uh we’ve been notorious for calling our shots on lineups and then as soon as we hit post on our uh episode, we’re completely wrong. But I did Ross, I don’t know. I we didn’t confirm that Lassie physically went to Belleville. Like he that could have been a paper on the ground. I will tell you in an hour by the time you’re listening to this, go to send central and I will let you know if Lassie is at Belleville practice. Yeah. listening to this right now, you will know. But right now, we don’t know. So, uh, that’s a tough one. I do not think Tom Shabbat will play tonight. Again, Brandon Pillar, not a doctor, but whenever you see a non-cont injury like that, that’s never a good sign. That means he tweaked something and he didn’t look great on the bench after he was talking talking to the trainer for quite a while. So, I’m going to go out on a limb and say we’re not going to see Shabbat tonight. Maybe we see Matt and Powell. Maybe Lassie Thompson wasn’t physically sent back to Belleville. M maybe Dennis Gilbert makes his way over uh and plays. Who knows? Yeah, we’ll find out soon on that one. But PZY this game in particular and you talk about the LOSP Jinx not upset that we had Yaros Slavascarov as the starter and he didn’t end up playing because he was unreal last night against the Boston Bruins for San Jose. So that was really helpful for the Sanovich was good too. It wasn’t like gave that game away. No, it wasn’t. Ottawa had to fight for what they got in this one, but it was still really good to see them get a backup goal for a second game on a road trip. Long trip and the way Scarov is playing right now, he might not let in three goals because he’s been he’s been redot, but Ottawa gets inv2 the final score. Ottawa wins. They’re two and0 on this road trip. And I mean just the stretch they’re on overall 103 and four in their last 17 games. They’re 104 and four since Brady Kachchuck got hurt. Enough about the man who’s not in the lineup. Let’s look at the game day preview next. You’re listening to Locked on Senators, your team every day. Today’s episode is brought to you by our friends over at Game Time. Hockey season is here and nothing beats being in the arena for those opening games. But let’s be real, sometimes getting tickets for any event can be a total headache. Between waiting in cues, surprise fees, and prices that jump right before you check out, it’s easy to get frustrated when all you want to do is cheer on your team, the Ottawa Senators. That’s where Game Time comes in. The app that gives the fans the advantage. It’s your ultimate life hack for scoring amazing NHL tickets fast, easy, and stressfree. Now, we know the Ottawa Centers are on the road right now, but why not make it a good excuse to go travel to see your Ottawa Centers? Ross and I have been looking on Game Time for tickets, and it’s the ultimate spot to grab your tickets. What you see is what you pay. None of those nasty hidden fees at checkout. And if you’re going to an arena you’ve never been before, you can see exactly what the view is going to look like from your seat. So there’s no surprise when you sit down. They got zone deals. You pick the section. Game time picks your seats and you save big. So take the guesswork out of buying NHL tickets with Game Time. Download the Game Time app, create an account, and use code locked on NHL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Again, guys, that’s code locked on NHL for $20 off. Swipe, tap, ticket, go. All right, PZY. So, it is a 9:00 Eastern start tonight in Los Angeles. We will have the postcast for you immediately following the action that you can watch on Prime Monday Night Hockey. Note that this is a Prime game, so you got to go uh to there. It’s not on your basic cable subscription, but it is well worth the price if you don’t already have Prime. It is phenomenal. And Chris Pronger is going to be on the broadcast tonight. Psy. He was also on hockey night in Canada Saturday night and he made a comparison that some OG citizens might remember from locked on senators back in 2020. We were laughed at. Well, Craig Button was when he came on our show and said that Jake Sanderson has the potential to be a Scott Nether Meyer type player in the National Hockey League. Those are those are great words coming from Craig Button who we respect, but I think they carry even more weight, maybe 66, 250 pounds worth of weight when it comes from a Hall of Fame defenseman and Chris Pronger and a teammate. Uh like no one would know better what Scott Nemire’s game is like than a guy that played alongside of him and won gold medals together and won won another championship that we’ll we’re not going to talk about. No, no, no. They won gold medals together. Yes. Yeah, gold medals uh amongst others. But yeah, that’s we believed it when Craig Button said that. Obviously, we were like, whoa, that’s intense. That’s a big comparison to make. That’s a guy you want to hear your newly drafted defenseman be compared to. But you see the similarity similarities when it comes to the skating. And this is a fast young league. You got to be able to skate. And Jake Samson skating is going to get him into a lot of great situations and get him out of a lot of bad situations. Ross, we saw a combination of the his skating and his new physicality up against uh Philip Kurichev. Sanderson broke a stick in the offensive zone and then Kurishv is like, “All right, sweet. I got the jump on him. I’m going to make a break and drive to the net.” Sandy with no stick catches up to him and then bullies him, shoves him into the boards. that Kersev is the guy that gets a roughing penalty after because he didn’t like how he was treated there. So, that’s just an example of him using his feet and using his hockey IQ to you don’t even need to give this guy a stick to be an elite defender. I I remember I’m old enough to remember when Cody Cece got dangled by a guy who didn’t have a stick and now it’s nice having the shoe on the other foot with Jake Sanderson. That play was so sick. And while I heard it live on the radio, Gourd Wilson on 1200 said that that was an embarrassment penalty from Kurichev. He got embarrassed and did not appreciate it. So, he took the penalty and it’s just an amazing play from Sanderson. And it feels like the points maybe he’s not like dominating games like he did at times last season offensively. still skating great, still defending well, but quietly he’s got an assist in four of the last five games for the Ottawa Senators, plus three over that standpoint. And I want to get to the plus because plus minus isn’t everything. But you know what is everything? Vibes on a team and how they have each other’s backs. Jake Sanderson’s pass on the game-winning goal was spectacular. Blue line to blue line. Uh they bath, I believe, received the pass, right? and he was like straddling the line. You had to wait for the replay to make sure it wasn’t offside. It wasn’t. And as Sanderson makes the pass, he then goes to the bench. And Shabbat, who’s not playing at this point in the game, but was on the bench waiting, holds him off, says stay out there. Now they had the guy who was replacing him had one leg over the boards but waited because they wanted to see if that rush chance twoon at the time was going to be a goal and they wanted Jake to get the plus on that play. Doesn’t get an assist on that goal because it ends up getting touched by everybody on the ice. But what an awesome move that you see just kind of the closeknit aspect of this team. Yeah, high vibes for 60 uh in the advanced analytics chart and that was reinforced by Tim Stutzel’s interview uh after the game with um Sean McKenzie and he asked him basically like, “Hey, like how’s it going on this long road trip?” And Timmy basically was like, “We love being together. We’re going out for dinners. We don’t get sick of each other. This group is vibing really well right now and they’re about to add Breaka Chuck into the mix here, too. That’s going to help the vibes.” So, I love this group and I love the culture that the ownership, coaching staff, and the players have been able to build. And being an Ottawa Senator sure is a different feeling and carries a different weight and look than it did a couple years ago. That’s for sure. And the boys had a good Sunday night in Los Angeles. It looked like, at least from Steven Holidayiday’s Instagram, that they got some uh field level access to the LA Rams Sunday night football game. So, I hope the boys had a great day off. welld deserved with the way they’re playing and that they’re back on the horse tonight. Not the seven horse yet, but they’re back on the horse taking on the Kings who beat them one- nothing in Ottawa just two Saturdays ago now. Drew Dowy was injured in that game and he’s out for a while. He’s not playing tonight. And I believe I don’t know if it was a broken foot. Was it a broken foot or just a a sprain? Look, people can say what they want about Drew Dowy being a little bit older, but this guy, I thought he was great at Four Nations, having a good start to the season. Like, he’s he’s on my team, Canada, for sure. Yeah. I mean, I you probably want him there. Uh the experience that he has, a vet, and he’s the type of guy that has been in these experiences or these situations before. So, I would be shocked if he’s not there. And he could also help the young guys. Like I don’t know if they bring Matthew Schaefer. I kind of hope they do the way he’s playing. But like Dowy was 21 at his first Olympics in Vancouver. Like if anybody can help a young defenseman with that experience, it’s him. So um yeah, I would really hope to see that Dowy gets well soon. They just have it listed as a lower body even though uh he blocked a shot with his foot and he had a walking boot on. So I think you can not have to be a doctor to know that it’s a foot injury. But Drew Dowy will not be in the lineup tonight. and likely Thomas Shabbat will not be in the lineup for the Ottawa Senators, but we’ll have to wait later on today for that update. That update will come on Twitter at Sen Central and you can find the podcast wherever you get yours, including on YouTube where we are free and available. We’ll get to the lineups on the other side. Pillsy, are you feeling good about this game tonight? Like I I’m a little nervous after we did the LA lineup. like they’re kind of stacking their top six right now. No, I’m I’m not nervous. I I feel good about this. I mean, you start the road trip off with two nice wins and we’ll see which goalie ends up playing tonight. I mean, Forsy shut them out, but Keer’s having a really good season for them as well. No, Drew Dowy really changes how that decor looks. We’re going to take a look in a second. But I don’t know. I think this is a winnable game for the Ottawa Centers. And I think the LA Kings are a really nice measuring stick team. Like they’re they’re a team that drafted someone high in the 2020 draft in Bfield. You got Tim Stoa, Jake Sanderson here. So I think you should be able to beat this team. And I don’t care, Ross, about the Jinx. I’ll say it. Let’s go for the Cali sweep. Okay. Glad you mentioned it because I didn’t have the Coahonus to do that. But I will remind people the last time the Senators swept the California trip was during the Hamburglar run where Ottawa got shut outs from Andrew Hammond backto back against Anaheim and LA. That was truly a remarkable time. I’m not calling a shut out. I’m not saying that. But uh it would be nice to give them a little taste of their own medicine after they shut the sends out one nothing. It would. But I think that even if it’s 8-7 like these two teams played last year in Ottawa, I would just want to see this team continue to stack points because despite Ottawa’s incredible run right now, they’re still just in a complete gong show in the Eastern Conference right now. Like I don’t even have to name the teams, just the amount of points you can see in the division. 27, then three-way tie at 26, Montreal with 25, and then 23 22. And oh my goodness, is that the Toronto Maple Leafs dead last below the Buffalo Sabres. That’s how you know Winter’s here, Ross. The Leaves have fallen all all the way. Oh, holy smokes. The Leafs are 16 and0 on the road. They’ve been playing more at home. They’ve only played seven of 22 games on the road. Speaking of uh road home, Ross, uh where did the LA Kings beat the Ottawa Senators? That was in Ottawa. That would be an away game for them. And now they are playing in LA. The LA Kings are 92 and3 on the road compared to a 14 and3 at home. Only one win at home this season for the LA Kings. So, if you’re the Ottawa Senators, you got to try to take advantage of that uh unfortunate home record for the Kings and uh Cali Sweep. Let’s go. We’ll dive into the numbers next. You’re listening to Lock on Senators, your team every day. Today’s episode is brought to you by our friends over at FanDuel. The NBA is back and there’s no better place to get in on the action than FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. Even if you miss the start of the game or you want to ride that hot hand, FanDuel has live bets on everything from who will score next to fourth quarter comebacks. Plus, you can even combine your live bets into a same game parlay for a shot at a bigger payout. It keeps every game exciting, especially when your team’s making that late push or your team’s making a push late at night with the Ottawa Senators in LA. That game starts at 9:00 Eastern. And on FanDuel, the Ottawa Senators are underdogs at plus 122 and the overunder set at 5.5. So if you want to get in on that, do it with FanDuel. And if you’re a new customer, FanDuel is giving new customers $300 in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins. So head to fanduel.com to sign up and play your game with FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. All right, Pillsy, you’re listening to Locked On Senators. We are part of the Locked On podcast network, the number one sports podcast network. And we have some exciting news coming in the next couple of weeks. But there’s an exciting game tonight in Los Angeles at what cryptocurrency arena. Now, I’m still calling it the Staple Center, an iconic building between the Lakers and the LA Kings. Lots of championships have been won there. Tonight, it is going to be the final time in the regular season that the Ottawa Senators take on Anon Copitar. An incredible career for Kopitar, one of those guys who’s going out on their own terms. And that’s not often the case in the National Hockey League. He announced this is his final year. Psyy’s got 12 points in 18 games. It’s like the guy can still play. Ross, uh, I mentioned this last time they played the Kings that this will be Copitar’s last time playing in Ottawa and you mentioned now this is the last time they kitar will play the sends. We were we were corrected by a YouTube commenter. There’s a possibility these two teams play again in mid June. So, did you not hear me? I said this is the final regular season meeting. Okay. I So, no, I did not hear you say regular season. So, I mean, hey, LA, Ottawa, it could happen. Yeah. I mean, the two biggest Hollywood cities in the National Hockey League. Yes. Let’s go. Ottawa, the Hollywood of the North, as everyone calls it. Many, many people are saying that. They’re also saying, “Show us the lines for tonight.” Okay. Well, we’ll do what we can. The Ottawa Senators have Tim Stutza with David Pra and Drake Bath. Dylan Cousins between Lars Eller and Fabian Zetterland. Shane Pinto is centering Michael Amadio and Klo Jaru. And then Steven Halliday is going to be dishing to Nick Cousins on one wing and Hayden Hodgson on the other. We’ve got Jake Sanderson with Ardam Zub for the first time ever. We have a question mark. We don’t know if it’s going to be Thomas Shabbat, Nicholas Matten Palo or a surprise, but we do expect Nick Jensen to be on the right side there. And then Tyler Cleven with Jordan Spence Pillsey. This would be a Levy Marilyn game for me, I got to tell you. Yeah, I would like Levy Marilyn to play as well, which means it’s almost guaranteed Lenus Almark will start. Uh it would just be rude to throw him out in Vegas. Yeah, I don’t want to see Levy go in Vegas. And uh Allark should be up to that task in my opinion. And I I just I think schedule-wise, we’ve gone through this, but schedule-wise it makes sense for this to be a spot for Maryland to play. Um, I’m going to go let’s go Tim Stutzler Ross as my locked on player. You mentioned how successful he’s been as of late and he’s really stepped up and I love the the German connection, the German owner of the LA Kings. He made it very clear he was disappointed that the Kings didn’t go with Stuts, went with Biffield instead. And if you’re Timmy, you want to keep showing teams that uh missed opportunities to draft you. The San Jose Sharks a different way. They traded the pick that ended up being Tim Stutzler, but the LA Kings, he was right there for them and they went with Quinton Bfield. So, I want to see Timmy uh stick it to them a little bit here as well and shoot that puck. I want to see Timmy continue to shoot. Obviously, he gets the game winner. Not more of a uh crash tap in than a shot. But I I just love seeing Timmy rip it. So, Tim Sto’s my locked on player, but you got to love the compete that he was following up the play in the perfect moment. Oh, of course. Yeah. Yeah, of course to get that goal. My locked on player. I’m sticking down the middle. And no, I’m not going with the man who’s tied for the team lead with Brady out of the lineup in shots on goal. That would be Shane Pinto. I’m going with Dylan Cousins, man. He’s been playing some fantastic hockey of late. The book on him was he finds ways to get points. A lot of them on the power play. Five on five. We wanted to see a little bit more. He has been a possession hound over the last little while. And if you look at it on paper, his wingers are guys that haven’t been producing a whole lot of offense until Veterland scored the goal there on Saturday night. But I like the look of Larseller on this line. I thought those three played really well together. If anything, it was David Per who I didn’t really necessarily love his game on Saturday night. And you saw that they moved Nick Cousins up for a few shifts. That game-winning goal, it was Nick Cousins out there with Stutzel and Bath. But I’m going to be watching for Dylan Cousins cuz man, big big frame, soft hands, and he’s just playing really, really exciting brand of hockey right now, finishing all his hits. And I’m excited to see what he’s got in store tonight. Like when we look at LA’s lineup, they’re built down the middle as well. They’re much older, more experienced outside of Bfield, but with Kopitar and Philip Deno as their other centerman, that’s kind of a similar way that Ottawa’s rolling out there. like they’ve got their big body in Copitar. Then they’ve got their highskll player in Bfield versus Stutzla and then Deno is like what we hope Pinto can be like a 50point guy that’s great defensively. So I’m looking at Ottawa having to win this game down the middle of the ice. They obviously have to score more than zero like they did last time against LA, but I think Dylan Cousins could be poised for a big opportunity to be a reason why Ottawa wins this game. Yeah. Uh, I mean, Dylan Cousins game has been great as well. Uh, he had a lot of opportunities up against the Ducks, six shots and three or four prime scoring chances and wasn’t able to bury one. So, I wouldn’t mind seeing him um get one tonight as well. Yeah, six points in his last six games for uh for Dylan Cousins, 13 shots on goal and 17 hits in th those six games. So, he’s playing some real real nice hockey and we’ll hope that continues tonight. Uh, the Ottawa Senator’s opponent tonight is the Los Angeles Kings and they’ve loaded up their top line here. Quinton Biffield at center between Kevin Fiala and Adrien Kempe fresh off a contract extension. He signed what a day or two after Ottawa and LA last played. Then you’ve got Andre Kopitar with Trevor Moore and Andre Kouseno who wasn’t in the lineup for that game. Third line is Philip Dano with Warren Fogle and Alex Lefariier who scored the only goal in that game two Saturdays ago. The fourth line is Alex Turkot with Yoel Arma and Corey Perry. On the back end without Drew Dowy, it’s going to be Mikey Anderson with Joel Edmonson. It’s going to be um Dumlain with Brandt Clark, good Ottawa boy. And then you’ve got um Jacob Moer with Cody Cece. Still no word on who starts in goal, whether it’s Darcy Keer or Anton Forsberg. My lookout player right off the bat. Pillsy, it’s going to be Kevin Fial. This guy’s a dangerous shooter. And when you see him up close, it’s just like it it’s he’s the kind of guy where he lurks. Like he’s not always every shift going to be in your face. He’s not going to be digging the puck out of the corners every shift, that sort of thing. But if you give him any sort of space, he can make you pay. So, I need Ottawa to be aware when he’s on the ice because Kempe has so much speed. So does Biffield. Those guys can kind of make you focus on them and then Fial can just come out of nowhere and he’s he’s a dangerous shooter. He’s got uh nine goals leading the LA Kings so far this season. So, I’m going to be watching out for Kevin Fial and I’m hoping the sends do the same. Yeah, Fial is nasty. I I really like him. I was kind of hoping the sends were going to win the Fialis Sweep Stakes when uh he was available, but he ends up going to LA instead and signs. I mean, now Ross, you look at that deal now. He’s got four years left at 7875. That is insane value at 29 years old and with the way he’s able to put up points. Yeah. And I’ll also throw a little bonus out there. Corey Perry, he got booed when they announced his name in the home opener because he was obviously an Anaheim Duck for so long that I think it was just like muscle memory. They heard his name in Los Angeles and said, “No, dude. Go back to Orange County. Get out of here.” Well, he is quickly turning them into fans. 40 years old, Pelysey, and he got hurt in preeason. Missed the first six games of the year. He’s got seven goals and 12 points in 16 games. So, in a fourthline role, that’s pretty outrageous production down there. Yeah. Now, he does play on the top power play. Uh that’s where he gets a lot of his time. But Ross, we mentioned earlier sends Kings Cup final possibly. Well, what you’re going back to Cory Perry being on that Ducks team? No. Acquiring Cory Perry is basically a guarantee you make it to the finals and lose. So, just cuz we had the Prong or Nethermire thing earlier, I was like, really? Now we’re talking Corey Perry. I’m not talking about that. Look at what is it? The last five of six finals. He’s been the loser. So the loser and if it’s the best loser. If it’s Kings since and he’s on the Kings, you got to like how that looks. Um obviously maybe we’re getting ahead of ourselves here, but since co he’s played 119 playoff games. Yeah, it’s that would be the most in Sense franchise history easily. Easily. Uh, not easily. Most games all time. Well, with the Senators playoff with the Senators. Okay. Franchise history. Okay. What do we got? Oh, wait. What did I say? It’s actually really close. Cory Perry’s played 119. Alfie’s at 121. Let’s go. He’s not. Oh, damn. Okay. He’s not. Yeah. Also, he would be second though. Phillips is at 114. All right. All right. I like Alfie having exactly 100 playoff points. That’s sweet. 51 goals, 49 assists in the playoffs for Alfie. That is called being off topic. That is nice. Yeah. Yeah. Let’s get back to the the lookout player. My lookout player, number 96, Andre Kuseno. Last time the Ottawa Sanders played the LA Kings, he was not in the lineup. He was healthy scratched for three straight games after two games in uh November up against the Penguins and Montreal Canadians where he only played 750 and 732. So obviously not in the coach’s favor there. Then gets healthy scratched. Now he’s been back in the lineup the last two games and the ice time is up big time. 647 and 17. He’s playing on that second line and he is also on the top power play, but he has been snake bitten his last six games. No points at all. He hasn’t scored since November 1st up against the New Jersey Devils. But this is a guy that is able to put up offense. It’s really slowed for him since coming to the NHL with the Canucks in 22 23. But I still think he’s a dangerous player. So, I’m going to be looking out for KMCO. Well, I just pulled it up on YouTube if people are watching. And Tim Stolza got a new tape job. I think Kuzco and might need a new tape job as well. You see this thing? Yeah, that’s uh the the zebra tape job there. And it’s also always weird to me, Ross, when guys don’t have any tape on the heel of their stick. Like, in my opinion, that’s where you that’s the most important spot to have tape. Yeah. Known sniper Brandon Pillar. Yeah. Tell that to Danny Heatley. eater. No, he was just at the top. He was the top end guy. Oh, yeah. Leaving the top open. No, no. Only had tape on the top. He probably did like three rounds at the top and that was it. Oh, yeah. Damn. Well, that’s all he needed. What do I know? Well, you know that Kousenko is a guy who we were very high on when he was a Russian free agent. We said, “Hey, come on down to Ottawa.” Well, he has been able to really find a home though. Like he’s been kind of moved around, right? From Vancouver to Calgary now Los Angeles. Did he have in there too? Yeah. Like but his first year, Ross, he had 39 goals and 74 points in 81 games. Yeah. Yeah. Crazy. That is actually like he does produce and that is a good call because he’s getting a top six look tonight and he doesn’t have to be the defensive conscious on a line when you have Copitar on it. So I like that call as a lookout player. Andre Kuzno. Now, you mentioned the home road splits for the Los Angeles Kings. Do you think like what do you think could be the reason for that? I I’m looking at their team and I think they should be good wherever they play. So, I’m a little confused at why they have been unable to play well at home so far this season. Yeah, I have no clue, Ross. Like, that’s uh that’s a headscratcher for me for it to be that different. like only one home win and then win being able to stack points up on the road is tough. But my key to victory is this is the battle of a stoppable force meets a movable object. Now, what I’m referring to here is the LA Kings power play is uh where are we? 29th in the league at 14.3%. Not very good. That’s the stoppable force. However, on the flip side, the movable object is the Ottawa Centers PK sitting at 31st at 70%. So now, the Sense PK has been better, but this is going to be an opportunity where the Ottawa Centers should be able to shut down this power play unit. Like we talked about, you got a 40-year-old Cory Perry who’s playing fourthline minutes, five on five. And then you got a guy that’s been healthy scratched for three straight games. Uh now he’s played two coming back, but has no points. So you got to find a way to stop this power play, boost your PK, and maybe even find a way to produce some offense short-handed on the penalty kill because those are some slow boots out there for the LA Kings. So this is an opportunity. Not only that, they’re still rolling with the five forward unit. Uh they’ve got Kempe and Fiala as their their points on the top uh top unit. They obviously don’t have Drew Daddy anymore, so they’re going four forwards on the second unit as well. So, just something to keep an eye out for for tonight. And in the last six games, the LA Kings have been as bad on the power play as good as they are on the penalty kill. They’re one for9 on the power play, but they’ve scored two short-handed goals and they’re 13 for 13 on the kill in the last six. Yeah. So, damn. That’s that’s dangerous. And Ottawa’s two power plays against them two weeks ago were both early on in the game and they didn’t score on them and then the rest was history. So, we’ll see if Ottawa can jump on them early here. Ottawa lifetime uh in Los Angeles 59 1 and three. That one is a tie back before 0405 when those still existed. But I mean only five wins in 18 games in Los Angeles. So we’ll see what Ottawa’s got in store for them. Uh tonight I can’t wait for this one though. Really excited. Glad it’s not 10 p.m. start. We get it an hour earlier which is appreciated. But really, really think that Ottawa has an opportunity for something special because Vegas ain’t going to be easy. You’ve got the St. Louis Blues on Friday and they’re going to be hungry. They’re pissed off the way their season started and then the Dallas Stars on Sunday. And I want my final thoughts to be about the Dallas Stars. Did you see that Mo Ranton ended up getting fined for embellishment on the play with Lenus Almark in the third period where he ran into him and started looking for a call? There was no call either way on that play, but it’s like he ended up actually Miko Ranton got suspended automatically a game because he got two game misconducts uh in short secession. It’s like well he should have got a four game suspension and take him out against Ottawa. Yeah. I mean it’s crazy that they’re it’s taking them weeks to to put that fine in. I don’t know how that works. All maybe there’s a lot of paper pushing that has to happen. But yeah, or two grand. There’s probably more than two grand worth of effort and payroll going into finding a guy. Two grand. How much money does Miko Ranton make? Like percentage of salary. That’s like buying a pack of gum. Yeah, that’s it’s pennies for him. Notice that. Yeah. Yeah. That’s that’s ridiculous. But yeah, so I would have preferred a power play early in the third period against Dallas and you’re up a goal at that point. But whatever. Ottawa got a point out of that game. So I guess that’ll be my uh that’s my qual for the day is that Miko Randon, by the way, I don’t know if anybody has changed their reputation as now being considered like a dirty player as Ranton is. the hit against Romanov, he could kind of talk his way out of it from the sense of he kind of clipped skates with the guy who was going in with him and he kind of like fell forward into the guy. But the hit against Coronado against Calgary was so dirty. Like this guy is on quite the mission here to have everybody hate him. Yeah, it’s it’s not a good look for Miko Rand and uh that’s that’s tough for sure and deserved of a suspension. Any final thoughts on today’s show? Final thoughts for me is a tale of two different hockey teams. Ross, the Belleville Senators. Not a great weekend for them. An overtime loss. And then turns out Jackson Parson is human after all. Allowed seven goals up against the Lal Rocket. So many in the third period though. Like it was 3-2 going into the third. Yeah. Yeah. And then it just kind of fell apart on him there. So, not great for the Bville Centers up against the Laval Rocket, but down in Wisconsin, oh my god, the Badgers are hot. Back-to-back wins up against the number one team in Michigan and some uh Wisconsin putting up points, too. Blake Montgomery had a sick goal. So, you love to see that. Like, that’s Wisconsin is turning heads in the college hockey world and uh it’s putting the spotlight on the Sen prospects. So, that’s awesome. It’s so good to see and like they they went one and one against the number two team in the country last weekend against Michigan and then this other this last weekend they go on the road and both these weekends were on the road into the den of the number one team in the country and they said nuh-uh yeah Porter Martone top five pick for the Philadelphia Flyers or was he sixth overall anyways top 10 pick definitely and he tied it late and they said no no no we’re winning this game in overtime. Huge, huge to see. And just the experience of these guys like Hensler, Montgomery, and Tyson Dick had a big weekend, too. So, love to see that. We just talked with Tom Mleski last week on the show, and he was saying, “Look, Tyson Dick in and out of the lineup, that sort of thing.” But hey, he got inserted and he had a huge goal for them uh this weekend. So, love to see that for all the Suns prospects. It was a goal and an assist in the game on Friday night, including the gamewinner 54. And they’ve won five or five straight games when he’s in the lineup. So, hey, somebody tell the coach that, get him in the lineup a little bit more. Uh, but yes, great note on that. We love to see it. I mentioned earlier I’ll be going to uh the two games this week. I’ll be calling color commentary with footy on the Sens versus Manitoba Moose. So, I’m going to head over to Belleville practice and let you know if Lassie Thompson’s there or uh Dennis Gilbert. Both guys expected to be, but we’ll see if the Ottawa Senators are making a recall for the game tonight. It will let us know more about the status on Thomas Shabbat and or Nicholas Matt and Paulo. Okay, we’ll see you in the postcast tonight. Thanks so much for liking, watching, listening, engaging with the show, following us on social media at Sen Central, and subscribing wherever you get your podcast. Five-star reviews go a long way on every platform for Brandon Pillar. I’m Ross Levitan. This has been another edition of the Locked On Senators Podcast. Your team every day.

It’s an Ottawa Senators game day! Brandon Piller and Ross Levitan preview the Senators vs LA Kings matchup tonight, break down how the Sens keep winning without Brady Tkachuk, analyze lineups, key players, and share top storylines from the California road trip so far!

00:00:00 – Senators Game Day & Brady Tkachuk’s Absence
00:05:26 – Leadership Stepping Up Without Brady
00:13:36 – LA Kings Game Preview & Sanderson’s Comparison
00:21:28 – Ottawa & LA Lineups Breakdown
00:32:21 – Keys to Victory & Final Thoughts

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