Senators prepare for heat of tough road schedule

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The Ottawa Senators opted not to skate Sunday, heading directly to the airport for the afternoon trip south to Florida.

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The extra rest was probably a good call, considering the fatigue that you have built up earlier in February and the challenges that lie ahead.

After the bizarre experience of playing with only five defensemen in Saturday’s 2-1 loss to the Montreal Canadiens, including the absence of workhorse Thomas Chabot and Nikita Zaitsev, the bigger focus is on how to be best prepared for the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday. After that, it’s the Florida Panthers on Thursday.

Between them, the Lightning and Panthers are a combined 40-10-4 on home ice as they both seek a long playoff run towards the Stanley Cup.

From there, the trek also includes a stop in Vegas with Jack Eichel now taking center stage and against the always heavy St. Louis Blues.

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The only potential soft spot is a game against the Arizona Coyotes, who have slipped back into the NHL’s basement due to Montreal’s current five-game winning streak.

“We’re playing four of the top five teams in the league, basically, they’re all Cup contending teams,” said Colin White, who scored the Senators lone goal Saturday in his first game of the season following shoulder surgery.

White’s return helps, but matching up on the road against the league’s power houses without Josh Norris, Drake Batherson and, possibly, Chabot, will once again test the Senators resiliency.

The Senators have a stressed structure lately, but Smith says the club strayed from its system against the spirited Canadiens, who showed there’s plenty of life left in their season.

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“When we do it right, we’ve got a chance every night,” Smith said. “What I didn’t like (Saturday) is that I didn’t think we did it right enough.”

The intrigue for the next little while is figuring out where White fits.

He played here, there and everywhere against the Canadiens — at center and on the wing with an assortment of linemates — earning himself second star honors. His goal from him, set up by Connor Brown, came on a second period power play. Four minutes into the game, White also beat Canadiens goaltender Andrew Hammond, but couldn’t beat the post behind him.

“It has been a long year, so I was super excited and I just went out and had fun,” White said. “Brown made an unreal play (on the goal) and made it easy for me.”

Due to the last minute illnesses, Smith had little choice but to dress 13 forwards to go along with the five defencemen, making the forward line juggling awkwardly.

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“You just have to be ready to go with anyone,” White said. “I haven’t been in the lineup at all, so I kind of expect to play with everyone and eventually I’ll find some chemistry with someone.”

White ended up playing 14:30 against Montreal, with four shots on goal. The most promising sign for a Senators team that has been plagued with injuries up front is that White’s shoulder stood up — “I took a few from (Alexander) Romanov there and I tried to lay a hit in the first, no problems there” — to game action.

“He gave us some good shifts,” Smith said. “There was some system stuff that was off a little bit, but he played with heart, he got to the net. He did what he had to do.”

White couldn’t say enough about simply being on the ice again.

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“Seeing it from the outside, you see hockey we are to play hockey and play the game we love,” he said. “To be back out there with the guys and go through the emotions through the game and after the game. Just to be with them again and on the ice, it is great for me.”

Smith also faces some interesting goaltending choices. Matt Murray and Anton Forsberg will split time on the trip, but who goes first against Tampa?

Murray was good against Montreal, stopping 30 of 32 shots while bailing out the often times disorganized defense in front of him, but the game winning goal from Artturi Lehkonen in the second period was a knuckleball that eluded him.

While Murray’s numbers continue to improve — a goals against average of 2.65 and a save percentage of .920 — he has lost his past four starts.

Meanwhile, Anton Forsberg (2.79, .917) is coming off Tuesday’s 4-3 win over the Minnesota Wild and has won four of his past six games.