After getting back from a seven-game road trip, Thursday night’s game against the New York Rangers wasn’t exactly the homecoming the Ottawa Senators had in mind. J.T. Miller had three assists as the Rangers defeated the Senators 4–2 at Canadian Tire Centre.
But the bigger loss for Ottawa might be centre Shane Pinto, who suffered a lower-body injury, joining the club’s expanding list of walking wounded. Pinto, Ottawa's top goal scorer (12), was injured in the first period on what appeared to be an innocuous body check from former Senator Mika Zibanejad.
Down near the end boards in Ottawa's end, Pinto tried to jump on a loose puck, but as he looked up ice, he took his eye off the puck and missed it, and it slipped off his stick blade. As he opened up to regroup and try to get his stick back on the puck, that’s when Zibanejad made contact. That left Pinto briefly off balance, and his skate appeared to get jammed into the base of the boards.
Before leaving, Pinto went for a brief skate, trying to test out his lower body injury during a stoppage before deciding he couldn't continue.
Senators head coach Travis Green, as is customary, said he hoped to know more about Pinto's prognosis on Friday. When Friday came, all Green would say was that Pinto wouldn't be available for the next game, scheduled for Saturday night against the St. Louis Blues.
“He’s a big loss,” Green told TSN during their Thursday broadcast.
After getting Brady Tkachuk back in the lineup last week, after he had missed 20 games with a thumb injury, the Senators were hoping for a run of good luck in the injury department. Instead, Thomas Chabot was re-injured, and Artem Zub and Lars Eller also missed Thursday’s game. All are now listed as day-to-day, though Zub is expected back on Saturday night.
And now Pinto is banged up as well.
As for Thursday's game, the 4-2 loss to the Blueshirts, Artemi Panarin hit the 900-point mark for his career with a goal and an assist. Drake Batherson and Dylan Cozens had the Senators’ goals, and Leevi Meriläinen stopped 23 of 27 shots. Igor Shesterkin was excellent and always seems to have the Senators' number.
Brady Tkachuk had an assist in the game and moved past Wade Redden on the Senators’ all-time scoring list. He is now in fifth place with 411 points.
The Senators are back at it on Saturday at home against the St. Louis Blues at 7:00 p.m.
Steve Warne
The Hockey News - Ottawa