With much speculation surrounding the team, the Ottawa Senators have rallied to play some better hockey of late thanks in large part to the chemistry between Mike Hoffman and newly acquired centre Matt Duchene. The 27-year-old middleman has started to heat up, notching 14 points (6 G, 8 A) in his previous 14 games.
After Duchene was traded from the Avalanche to the Senators in a three-way deal that saw Kyle Turris head to Smashville, the former Brampton Batallion struggled to find his groove with his new club, but his stat line over the last month indicates he may’ve turned a corner, which is music to the ears of Sens fans considering what the team fetched for him.
Turris, meanwhile, made his return to Ottawa on Thursday night for the first time since the trade, but it was Duchene that was grabbing some of the spotlight prior to puck drop.
The Haliburton, Ontario, native was sitting on the Senators bench going through his pre-game routine of drinking a water and listening to his headphones when he spotted a little boy holding a sign saying “I want to be just like Duchene.”
The little guy was giving the thumbs up to Duchene hoping he’d acknowledge the little boy and his sign.
Despite his concentrated efforts on trying to mentally prepare for the game, Duchene saw the boy and knew he had to return the gesture back.
You can tell by the boys’ reaction to his mom just how excited he was for his hero to salute him.
This is why we love sports today.
