Will this be the year the Senators finally get off to a better start to their season?
The Ottawa Senators have announced their 2023 pre-season schedule and, as usual, there's a pretty steady diet of games against the rival Montreal Canadiens and Toronto Maple Leafs. In all, there will be eight games, including three in the friendly confines of Canadian Tire Centre.
Ottawa's exhibition schedule begins on September 24th and has a little more variety than last year, when seven of the eight games were against either Montreal or Toronto. This year, the Sens will face Florida and Pittsburgh in neutral-site games on the East Coast, including a Kraft Hockeyville game in Sydney, Nova Scotia on October 1st. The pre-season schedule ends October 7th.
In all likelihood, the Senators will end most of their evaluations early and use the last few games of pre-season as a regular season dress rehearsal. Stop us if you've heard this one before, but the team would like to hit the ground running, in hopes of avoiding yet another shockingly poor start, virtually destroying their season before it's begun.
As they say, hope springs eternal...
2023-24 Ottawa Senators pre-season schedule (all times Eastern)
Sunday, Sept. 24: Toronto at Ottawa, 7 p.m.
Monday, Sept. 25: Ottawa at Toronto, 7 p.m.
Wednesday, Sept. 27: Ottawa at Montreal, 7 p.m.
Friday, Sept. 29: Winnipeg at Ottawa, 7 p.m.
Sunday, Oct. 1: Ottawa vs Florida (at Sydney, N.S.), TBD
Monday, Oct. 2: Ottawa vs Pittsburgh (at Halifax), 6 p.m.
Thursday, Oct. 5: Ottawa at Winnipeg, 8 p.m.
Saturday, Oct. 7: Montreal at Ottawa, 7 p.m.