Senators’ Drake Batherson “Dell”t a Significant Blow

Tyler Ennis netted his second career hat trick and goalie Matt Murray posted a 32-save shutout, his first this season in the Ottawa Senators 5-0 thrashing of the Buffalo Sabres.

However, the mood was tempered after the team lost forward Drake Batherson to what head coach D.J. Smith termed, a significant ankle injury.

The Senators will not only be minus their leading point-producer (13 goals, 21 assists) for several weeks, Batherson was the club’s lone All Star representative and was eagerly looking forward to participating February 4-5.

It wasn’t just that the 23-year old was suffered an inury, it shouldn’t have occurred. Sabres goalie Aaron Dell stepped to the side of the net to play the puck, and after doing so, shouldered an unsuspecting Batherson which led the Nova Scotia resident to crash into the boards.

Drake Batherson was forced to leave the game after being hit by Aaron Dell. pic.twitter.com/t6T66c6gdJ

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) January 26, 2022

“Unfortunately for him, the kid had a chance to go to his first All Star Game. It’s a bad play by the goalie. He’s done it before.” said Smith postgame. “You’ve seen all the replays. Any other player in the league that does that will have to face the music. Certainly, the league will look at it. It’s a bad play. It’s unfortunate the poor kid is  not going to go to the All Star Game. It’s ridiculous.”

Aaron Dell hit Mark Stone with a pretty gnarly elbow. pic.twitter.com/04QYjR3w7i

— Knights On Ice (@knightsonice) September 30, 2019

The Senators’ head coach explained further, “It’s interference. He (Batherson) wasn’t in the path of the goalie, he steps back and hits him. I didn’t know anything about it, but when I came in, I saw replays that he (Dell) did this other times – running down and hitting players. We know it’s a pattern. It’s unfortunate, our best leading scorer is going to be out for significant amount of time on a play that didn’t need to happen.”

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As for Dell himself, the goaltender told Sabres beat writers, “I was just trying to buy some time for my defenseman and step into his lane . I hope he’s all right. I wasn’t trying to hurt anybody.

When Matt Murray was asked his thoughts regarding Dell’s actions, the Senators’ netminder appeared perplexed that a goalie would remotely thinking about making such a hit, “I don’t like calling out other goalies, but as a goalie, they’re (players) are not expecting to get hit by a goalie. This is a goalie that comes out to play the puck and you can’t hit him. I just thought that it’s a dangerous play. It turns out to be an unfortunate result. One of our best player goes down.”

The Senators also lost fourth line centre Dylan Gambrell to an upper-body injury after he was hit into the boards behind the Sabres in the first period. Per Smith; Gambrell will one week. There’s a chance Mark Kastelic who’s currently on the team’s taxi squad may make his NHL debut Thursday versus the Carolina Hurricanes.

It doesn’t come as any solace to Senators’ fans that Dell will face a supplemental disciplinary hearing Wednesday,  Batherson’s offensive prowess can’t be replaced in the lineup. And it hurts the team even more that right wing Connor Brown remains out with a broken jaw.

The club received a piece of relatively good news on the injury front as Colin White is able to take part in practices once again after rehabbing from shoulder surgery. White should return at some point in February. And that can’t come soon enough for the Senators.