Sens eager to acquaint Pinto with NHL
Mete back in Montreal for tilt with Habs after impressing coach in first two starts
Who says you can't go home again?
Trying to get settled into his new home with less than a month left on the NHL schedule, Victor Mete returned to Montreal by rail with his new Ottawa Senators teammates on Friday afternoon. The Sens will face the Canadiens on Saturday afternoon at 4 p.m. at the Bell Centre to start a fourgame road trip.
After being picked up on waivers by the Senators at Monday's trade deadline, Mete threw some clothes in a bag to make the short two-hour drive to Ottawa, where he suited up for the club's 4-2 win over the Winnipeg Jets on Monday night. He also played Wednesday against Winnipeg and now gets the chance to renew acquaintances with his old teammates.
It's all happened pretty quickly for the 22-year-old defenceman.
“"(The last few days) have definitely been pretty crazy,” Mete said after the team skate. “I know I'm here now, but there's still a lot I have to learn with systems and this was only my second practice. It's still a little bit hard to adjust, but I've been doing a lot of video with the coaching staff, and getting a couple of games under my belt has been good.”
General manager Pierre Dorion opted to pick up Mete on waivers after the club traded Mike Reilly to the Boston Bruins and Braydon Coburn to the New York Islanders late Sunday night. A fourth-round pick in the 2016 NHL draft, Mete has played 187 games in the league, and right now, that makes him one of the team's most experienced defencemen.
It's an opportunity to look at what Mete brings to the table and see where he fits in next year.
“His mobility helps us,” coach D.J. Smith said. “He has the ability to break pucks out for us, hold onto pucks, and as a young team, if you don't have the puck, it's not a lot of fun when you're defending the whole night.
"(Mete), (Erik) Brannstrom and (Thomas) Chabot on the back end right now are skating really well and they're breaking the puck out. If we can have it on our stick, we don't have to defend as much, so he's brought that to us. I think his confidence is starting to grow.”
THIS 'N' THAT
Mete has been partnered with Josh Brown and it will likely stay that way in Montreal. “We'll make that decision as a staff, but I really think Josh Brown has played well,” Smith said. “He brings an element of toughness, especially with a young group that we have in there, that we're going to need on the road. I thought he played his best game as an Ottawa Senator (on Wednesday) so he won't be coming out.” ... The NHL announced changes to its schedule due to the Vancouver Canucks still being in COVID-19 protocol, but the Senators weren't part of any of the reshuffling this time. The club will play four straight games against the Canucks — two at home and two on the road — starting next Thursday and Saturday at Rogers Arena. The two teams will face off in Ottawa April 26 and April 28. The only change to the schedule saw a game against the Toronto Maple Leafs on May 12 in Ottawa moved to an 8 p.m. start.
OFF THE GLASS
With a tip of the cap to legendary TSN 1200 play-by-play voice Dean Brown, it would appear goaltender Matt Murray will make his second straight start. He did most of the work in practice on Friday and stopped 32-of-35 shots against the Jets on Wednesday. That was Murray's first appearance in goal in seven weeks after being out with an undisclosed upper body injury. He sports a 7-13-1 record this season with a 3.80 goals-against average and a .882 save percentage ... Not sure if we'll see rookie defenceman Jacob Bernard-Docker against Montreal. The University of North Dakota product made his NHL debut against the Jets on Wednesday because Nikita Zaitsev was unable to play. Zaitsev took a regular rotation with Thomas Chabot on Friday, but Smith wasn't sure if he'd be able to go or not. That decision will be made Saturday morning ... The Senators took their team picture before the skate on Friday.
THE LAST WORDS
The Senators signed forward Cole Reinhardt to a three-year entry-level deal on Friday. He's been on an amateur tryout with the club's AHL affiliate in Belleville and was sixth-round pick in 2020 from the Brandon Wheat Kings.
Reinhardt, 21, has three goals and seven points in 22 games with Belleville this season.