White gets a chance to impress against Jets
Smith says forward needs confidence
Colin White made his return to the Ottawa Senators lineup Thursday night.
Essentially, it's up to him if he's going to stay there.
After being scratched by coach D.J. Smith in two of Ottawa's first three games, White returned Thursday against the Winnipeg Jets at Canadian Tire Centre in place of veteran centre Artem Anisimov. The Senators don't need White, 23, to carry the team, they just need him to be a consistent player at both ends of the ice.
“I'd like him to be good in the circle, to provide some speed, hold onto the puck and get that line some offensive time zone if we could,” Smith said before the game. “Get some shots, get above, steal some pucks and be physical. Really, just give us some energy and some competitiveness.”
White did a nice job setting up Cedric Paquette for a chance early in the second period just before Mark Scheifele gave the Jets a 2-0 lead.
White is battling confidence issues. He's in the second year of a deal he signed last summer with a cap hit of US$4.75 million annually and needs to keep it simple. He put in the work in the off-season, and by all accounts had a good camp, but was unseated by Anisimov and Josh Norris.
“Any time a young player is scratched it affects your confidence,” Smith said. “It's a hard league and there's a lot of guys that go in and out. You've got to earn your own confidence. To earn your confidence, you've got to go out and give yourself a good game (Thursday), and if you do that you can build on that and get going.
“There's very good players in the NHL that have been scratched. I go back to (Vladimir) Tarasenko in St. Louis in (2018-19). He was a healthy scratch; this is an elite player in the world, so it happens a lot more than you think. You've got to get back to work and get some things going in the right direction and give yourself some confidence.”
STUETZLE SITS AGAIN
Winger Tim Stuetzle, the No. 3 overall pick in the 2020 NHL Draft, missed his second straight game with an undisclosed injury. He skated Thursday and it sounds like he could suit up for the first game of the Senators' upcoming road trip Saturday in Winnipeg.
“He felt good, we'll see (Friday) if he's able to practise with us, but we don't anticipate him being out much longer,” Smith said.
Stuetzle was in the house Thursday night watching from a suite.
STICKING WITH MURRAY
It was no surprise to see goalie Matt Murray make his fourth straight start. Ottawa doesn't have back-to-back games scheduled until next week, although Marcus Hogberg saw some unexpected action when Murray was pulled after allowing four goals on 26 shots.
“I just think it's easy at the start for Murray to get a bunch of starts, but as we go and you start playing every other day, you're going to need both goalies,” Smith said.