Senators Defenseman Thomas Chabot Out Of Lineup (Again) As Senators Face LA Kings

The Ottawa Senators will once again be without Thomas Chabot on Monday night when they face the Los Angeles Kings. It’s game three of Ottawa’s seven-game road trip, and the Senators will be aiming for a third straight victory.

Chabot won’t be in the lineup after getting hurt again in Saturday’s 3–2 win in San Jose. The injury occurred on a late power play when Chabot took a wrist shot from the point and hurt himself on the follow-through. In hindsight, it appears Chabot wasn’t as ready for a return as he and the team had hoped.

The pain seemed to be coming from the same area Chabot injured on November 11 in a game against the Dallas Stars. He took a hard body check in front of the Stars' bench, and it looked like his rib area struck the hard edge at the top of the boards.

Nikolas Mattinpalo will draw back into the lineup. He missed Saturday’s game against the Sharks after taking a heavy hit from Radko Gudas in the third period of the game against the Anaheim Ducks.

The Senators still have five games remaining on this road trip and, depending on the severity of Chabot’s injury, they may need to call up a seventh defenseman again. Last time, to start this trip, that was Lassi Thomson, but the Senators acquired Dennis Gilbert at around the same time. Gilbert made his Belleville season debut Saturday night in a 7–2 loss to Laval. Gilbert had one assist, was minus-1, and got into a fight with Laval’s Alex Belzile.

The Senators are still without both Ridly Greig and Brady Tkachuk. Tkachuk is on the trip and practicing in full again. He may be ready to return this week following thumb surgery. Greig is listed as day-to-day. For now, their roster spots are being held down by Stephen Halliday and Hayden Hodgson.

The Senators’ projected lineup according to the team:

David Perron – Tim Stützle – Drake Batherson

Lars Eller – Dylan Cozens – Fabian Zetterlund

Michael Amadio – Shane Pinto – Claude Giroux

Nick Cousins – Stephen Halliday – Hayden Hodgson

On defense:

Jake Sanderson – Artem Zub

Tyler Kleven – Jordan Spence

Nicolas Mattinpalo – Nick Jensen

Leevi Meriläinen will make just his fifth start of the year. While his statistics are below average, with an .868 save percentage and a 3.50 goals-against average, the Senators have won three of his four starts so far this season.

In the last meeting between these two teams, a week ago Saturday, the Kings came away with a tight 1–0 win. That marked Anton Forsberg’s return to Ottawa after spending the previous four full seasons with the Senators.

According to NHL.com, Ottawa has only swept California once, back in 2014–15, defeating Anaheim, Los Angeles, and San Jose on a February 2015 road trip. Those three games came near the start of the “Hamburglar” run, when Andrew Hammond stepped in and played out of his mind that season.

This game also marks the return of Jordan Spence to his old stomping grounds. Spence spent the past two seasons with the Kings, playing over 70 games in both years before being traded to Ottawa on draft day for a third-round pick and a 2026 sixth-rounder.