Travis Green Puts Senators' Lines In A Blender As Artem Zub Returns Against Islanders

The Senators will have a very different look when they host the New York Islanders on Thursday night, with head coach Travis Green shaking up his forward combinations and welcoming a familiar face back to the blue line.

Coming off an ugly 7-2 loss to the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday, Green has made changes throughout the lineup.

The most interesting move is probably the promotion of Stephen Halliday to the top line alongside Tim Stützle and Drake Batherson.

Halliday has spent much of the early season in a depth role, but he'll now get an opportunity to play alongside the Sens' two most dangerous offensive forwards. It's quite a vote of confidence from Green, who is clearly looking for a spark.

The changes don't stop there.

Claude Giroux, who's had an age defying start to the season, will skate with Andre Burakovsky and Dylan Cozens. It's hard to call that much of a promotion as Giroux has more points (5) than both Burakovsky (0) and Cozens (2) combined. 

Nick Cousins will take Giroux's spot with Shane Pinto and Michael Amadio, which has arguably been the Sens best line.

Warren Foegele, Ridly Greig and Fabian Zetterlund, who've all had looks on the top line, will come together as the new fourth line.

It's good that Greig is even able to play after leaving Tuesday's loss to St. Louis early with a strain. With the Senators already dealing with several injuries, losing another regular forward would have been less than ideal.

Perhaps the best news for the Sens is the return of Artem Zub, who will make his season playoff series against the Carolina Hurricanes.

Zub has been out since April and his return couldn't come at a better time for a Senators defence that has been severely tested by injuries. He'll skate alongside captain Thomas Chabot while Jordan Spence rolls with Ottawa native Cam Crotty, who's also back from injury.

There is also encouraging news regarding Jake Sanderson. He's resumed skating with the team in a regular practice jersey, and Green says he's getting close to returning. But after two setbacks, one in the preseason and another on opening night, the Sens are right to ease him back. He'll miss his sixth consecutive game.

The Senators announced some bad news about William Eklund on Thursday. He underwent surgery Wednesday to repair a torn ankle tendon and is expected to miss 10 to 12 weeks. Nikolas Matinpalo and Kurtis MacDermid also remain sidelined.

The Senators enter Thursday's game with a 5-2-0 record, having won five of their first seven games despite an injury list that seems to grow by the week. 

The Islanders, meanwhile, arrive in Ottawa with a 3-3-0 record and their own injury concerns, including the absence of star forward Mathew Barzal.

Former Senators centre Jean-Gabriel Pageau is expected to be in the lineup for New York, while Semyon Varlamov is scheduled to start in goal.

Linus Ullmark is expected to return to the Sens crease after Sam Ersson had a rough outing against St. Louis, allowing seven goals on 26 shots.

Ullmark has been one of the biggest reasons for the Senators' strong start. He's 5-0 with a .948 save percentage.

With Zub returning, Greig cleared to play and Green experimenting with some very different forward combinations, Thursday's game should be interesting.

And nobody has a bigger opportunity than Halliday, who has a chance to show he can thrive in a top six situation.

Both of the Senators' losses this season have come in part two of a back to back so we'll see, with proper rest, if they're back in good form versus the Isles.

By Steve Warne
The Hockey News