In time before the start of the playoffs in the North American ice hockey league NHL, Tim Stützle found its shape again. The 23 -year -old plays a breathtaking season at the Ottawa Senators – but last weakened. The opponent in the first of the final rounds are Toronto Maple Leafs in “Battle of Ontario”. Despite the 350 km distance of the two cities, the games are derbies.
“The fans have been waiting long enough to see such games. That’s why it is cool that we can give the fans back a bit”says Stützle, who has never played a playoff game, “The euphoria is huge. From the players who used to play playoffs, you can hear what it means for fans.”
Stützle is happy after a long dry spell
The times in the NHL were anything but easy for the super talent. After moving in 2020 from the Adler Mannheim to Canada, things didn’t really go for the Viersen native. “This is now my fifth year. The four years before were not that easy. We hadn’t achieved what we had imagined” “says Stützle, and now you are “Just glad to be there. We worked very hard for it.”
Team sets Trainer specifications around
The strong phase of the Senators began in mid -December: a series of six victories in a row started. A series that was almost repeated at the end of January/early February (5 victories) and then completely repeated in March. It took just under three months for the Senators to play their new coach’s game philosophy Travis Green had understood. The reward: the playoffs.
“We made sure to play defensively all the season. We won many games. That was extremely well paid”Seters describes the orientation of the team, with which they made it into the playoffs after 26th place last season. Most recently, Ottawa had qualified for the final round in 2016/17.
Better than Draisaitl
And supporters contributed massively for the good record of the Senators: In the meantime there are 79 points that the striker achieved in the current season: 55 templates come to 24 goals. So far, there are 323 points (115 goals, 211 assists). Superstar Leon Draisaitl (currently leading in the NHL goal shooter list) did not crack the 300 mark so early. Despite his only 23 years “Jimmy”How Support is already called over 350 NHL games by his colleagues.
Trainer scolding taken to heart
The prospects for the second round of the playoffs are not bad. There were three wins in the three duels with play-off opponent Toronto-supporters played an important role in all three encores. Most recently, he experienced a sole of the valley: for four games it was not at all for the German. “When the coach says that he is not satisfied with the last games, it might arouse you and you want to show that you can do more.”
And that was done: with two goals and an assist, the attacker came back against Philadelphia and even scored the winning goal in added time.
“Just give the puck to the German”
Supports can build on the interaction with a large number of top people in his team: the currently injured captain Brady Tkachuk is top scorer and is said to come back to the playoffs. The central attacker Shane Pinto will be trusted by the experts in the United States because of his 20 previous goals. And defense chief Thomas Chabot, currently the dangerous leader of the Ottawa Senators, thinks a lot of support: “Just give the puck to the German”said Chabot slightly smugly, “You just have to let him do your thing. Let him do it and he delivers.”