The NHL’s footprint these days may stretch all the way into the desert — where the Senators take on the Golden Knights tonight in Vegas — but the game’s oldest truths still carry weight.
Chief among them is the belief that controlling the middle of the ice through the centre position plays a large role in team success. The Senators boast a larger-than-normal contingent of centremen who are equally as strong on both sides of the puck.
“I think the centre position is obviously a strength of ours,” said Green. “Not just with Tim, but with Dylan and Pints, Eller, Hally’s played well, obviously with Rids out, he can also play centre. And Timmy’s game’s just continuing to grow, it’s not just about points with him. He’s got the puck a lot, he makes a lot of plays, but he also plays on both sides of the puck.”
That group has played a large role in strangling opposition chances as of late. The Senators have allowed less than 25 shots for five straight games, and 105 in total during that stretch, the fewest in any five-game stretch in franchise history in the salary cap era.
“It’s huge, obviously, for us, especially on the road,” said Shane Pinto about the team’s centre depth.
“Obviously, we can’t get the matchups we want [with last change on the road], even Hally came in big and stepped up big for us, I know Lars is our fourth centre but we need him to step up on that second line,” said Pinto.
“But it’s a hard league to win in, and you’ve got to have centre depth. And we’re just lucky, obviously [Dylan Cozens] is a big, physical guy and he can obviously score goals. Timmy’s obviously a number one and an unbelievable centre. I just try to chip in defensively and a little bit offensively. So yeah, it’s good depth, and if you want to win in this league, it’s a big part of it. It’s obviously one of our strengths for sure.”
The Senators rank second in shots allowed (24.9) and first in expected goals-against per both MoneyPuck and Natural Stat Trick. If the team spent some time during the first couple of weeks of the season searching for their identity, they seem to have found it: defence first.
