Ottawa Senators at Utah Tuesday Night: Linus Ullmark Not Ready to Return After All

The Ottawa Senators have hit the road and play their first game against The Hockey Club Formerly Known As Coyotes on Tuesday night.

For fans who remember the old days, an NHL road trip that rolls through Utah and then Vegas feels more than a little unorthodox. But it does represent a chance for some of the team’s new players to bond with the old.

The Senators are off to a 3-2 start, and while they’re pleased they’ve shown the ability to bounce back from their losses so far, they’d also like to break the cycle and start stringing some wins together. So far, it’s been win-loss-win-loss-win.

Ullmark Out Again: For the first time in ten days, everyone expected starting goalie Linus Ullmark to be healthy and available to play. But he’s now been ruled out for tonight, and the club has recalled goalie Leevi Merilainen from Belleville to be Anton Forsberg’s backup. The B-Sens just lost Mads Sogaard to injury, so the AHL club is now in a bit of a scramble.

Sens winger Ridly Greig is expected to return. He’s also been out (upper body) since the loss in Montreal on October 10th.

According to TSN 1200 radio, Thomas Chabot and Shane Pinto were absent from the game-day skate this morning. Pinto also missed yesterday’s practice. But both are good to go tonight.

Artem Zub will miss a third straight game with a concussion. Winger David Perron isn’t even in Utah. He’s back home for personal reasons.

Utah is down two important defensemen they picked up in the off-season. Sean Durzi will miss four to five months after suffering an upper-body injury against New Jersey last week. John Marino is also out long-term after suffering an upper-body injury in training camp.

Who’s Hot? Through five games, most of the Senators’ young core players are off to a point-per-game start: Tkachuk, Stützle, and Sanderson have seven points. Batherson has six, and Norris has five.

Nick Schmaltz is off to a fine start for Utah with seven points, one behind new captain Clayton Keller for the club lead. Two years ago, he set a single-game franchise record with seven points against the Senators. The Sens may want to keep an eye on that guy, along with Dylan Guenther, who already has five goals in six games.

Who’s Not? Thomas Chabot has two points and has a club-worst minus-6. David Perron and Michael Amadio, the club’s top two free-agent signings, are pointless through five games, though their underlying numbers are good.

BackDraft: At this year’s NHL Draft, Utah had the pick (6th) right before Ottawa (7th) and chose forward Tij Iginla. According to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, Iginla was a player the Senators were closely eyeing until the option was removed. The Sens turned to Carter Yakemchuk, and whether he was their plan B or not, they’re thrilled with him so far. Both players are off to great starts in the Western Hockey League. UHC sent Iginla back early to Kelowna, where he has 11 points in seven games. Yakemchuk has six points in four games for Calgary.

Game time is 9:15 EDT.