Senators @ Carolina

At the moment I post this, the Ottawa Senators are en-route to the airport to catch their rescheduled flight to Carolina to face the Hurricanes. The NHL requires teams to be in the host city the night before a game but, as anyone whom has watched a Canadian sports channel in the last few days knows, the Senators were here to attend a public memorial at Scotiabank Place in memory the daughter of former Toronto Maple Leaf 1st round draft pick, former Ottawa Senators player and current assistant coach Luke Richardson.

Daron Richardson committed suicide several days ago. Normally this detail is not reported but the family insisted it be made public so that the negative stigma of mental health can be addressed. One reason this hits the Ottawa Senators so hard is that the world-class Royal Ottawa Hospital has part-time unicorn Daniel Alfredsson as one of its key spokespersons and so the team is well aware of the issues and difficulties that the Richardsons are facing.

The game tonight won't matter to the Ottawa Senators players, and we can expect to see segments of time where they look like their heads are elsewhere. They will be. But we can't be surprised if they light it up and play their hearts out for Luke.

5-2 Senators. Fish (2), Alfie (2), Philips hitting the net.