Artem Zub began December by taking some lumps to the jaw.
He’ll end the month by finally returning to the Ottawa Senators lineup Friday against the Detroit Red Wings, further bolstering a team that has managed to stay above water without his sound defensive presence.
Zub, who will be wearing a full visor and face guard to protect the jaw that was broken when hit with the puck in a Dec. 2 game against the New York Rangers, is expected to play alongside Thomas Chabot on the club’s top pairing.
It will be his first game since signing a four-year, $18.4 million contract extension.
Limited to only 14 games this season due to the jaw injury and an earlier nagging shoulder, his return will help coach D.J. Smith slot all his defencemen in more suitable spots.
Rookie Jacob Bernard-Docker, who made his own return from an ankle injury in Thursday’s 4-3 overtime win over the Washington Capitals, skated on a pairing with Nick Holden during Tuesday afternoon’s practice at the Little Caesar’s Arena in Detroit.
With Zub coming back, Dillon Heatherington was re-assigned to Belleville of the American Hockey League.
“He brings a lot,” fellow defenceman Travis Hamonic told reporters in Detroit. “He’s got a huge shot, he’s a big presence, he’s physical, he skates well and he moves the puck really well. He plays a lot of minutes for us, against a lot of really good opponents.
THE DIVE HEARD ‘ROUND THE LEAGUE: Claude Giroux was downplaying the effort Friday, but he was responsible for setting up the huge momentum-building goal by Tim Stutzle with only 15 seconds remaining in the second period.
At the time, the Senators trailed 3-1 and Giroux sprawled, fully extended, to intercept Trevor van Riemsdyk’s breakout pass inside the Capitals blueline. Giroux promptly got to his feet and fed a pass in the slot to the wide open Stutzle, who buried the puck past Capitals goaltender Darcy Kuemper.
“It just kind of happened, I wasn’t really thinking about it,” said Giroux, who also set up Alex DeBrincat’s game winner in overtime. “I just wanted to get the puck and that was the only way to get it, so I kind of dove for it. It turned out pretty good.”
The comeback likely wouldn’t have happened without the play from Giroux, who is seeing signs of more maturity from the team as the season develops.
“We just kept our foot on the gas,” he said. “Even if we were down 3-1, we felt we were the better team on the ice and we kept pushing.”
THANKS, PHILLY: Like many observers, yours truly thought the Capitals were sitting pretty when Evgeny Kuznetsov put Washington ahead 3-1 with 4:04 remaining in the second period. The Senators had been pressing hard for several minutes before Kuznetsov used Alex Ovechkin as a decoy on an odd-man break and slipped the puck past Senators goaltender Cam Talbot. Hence my tweet: “Kuznetsov. Back breaker. 3-1 Capitals.” Early Friday morning came the reply from Chris Phillips, who holds the Senators all-time record for games played (1,179) and currently serves as the club’s vice president of business operations. It was simple and to the point. “Nope”.
The comeback marked the first time in 14 tries this season that the Senators had rallied to win when trailing after two periods.
DIGGING DEEP: With forwards Josh Norris, Mathieu Joseph, Tyler Motte and previous Belleville Senators call-up Rourke Chartier all on the injury list, Jake Lucchini is getting a longer than expected look in his own recall from the minors. He delivered his best game yet against the Capitals, playing an even 10 minutes and narrowly missing scoring his first NHL goal. “In the moment, you don’t really thinking about it too much,” said Lucchini, who has now played three games in the big leagues. “I didn’t really have too good of a look at the net, I was skating towards our end and one of their defenders was on me. I’m not going to dwell on it.”
Beyond receiving opportune offence from the likes of DeBrincat, Stutzle, Drake Batherson, Brady Tkachuk and Giroux of late, Senators coach D.J. Smith is getting good mileage lately out of his depth forwards, including Lucchini, Parker Kelly, Mark Kastelic and Dylan Gambrell. Kelly has found another gear in the past couple of weeks and he was impactful against the Capitals, with five shots on net and six hits in 10:38 of ice time. “They don’t glide one time,” Smith said of the line of Gambrell, Kelly and Lucchini. “They go 100 miles per hour every single shift. They don’t allow any time and space. They create energy. They draw penalties. They’ve done a real nice job when they’re out there. And as long as they’re keeping the puck out of the net as well, they’re a really reliable group.”
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