After operations were paused Monday in an attempt to stop the team's Covid-19 outbreak, the Sens returned to practice Saturday morning.
"Everybody was joking around how it almost feels like the first day of training camp just seeing everybody and getting back in the groove," Sens captain Brady Tkachuk said. "It's nice to be back and kind of back in a routine here. Credit to all of our trainers and doctors for making the right calls and keeping us safe and doing all of the necessary things to stop the spread.
"It's a new excitement of getting back and getting back into the swing of things."
Connor Brown, Josh Brown, Alex Formenton, Dylan Gambrell, Nick Holden, Victor Mete, Matt Murray and Austin Watson were all removed from the NHL's Covid-19 protocol and practiced with the team. Only Drake Batherson and Nikita Zaitsev remain in protocol.
"It's been an unfortunate time where we had to be shut down but it's great to be back," Sens head coach D.J. Smith said. "It's not the ideal situation but safety came first and we got it right."
Watson was the first player placed in protocol on Nov. 5. The Sens played five games after that before being shut down Monday. Games this week against New Jersey (Nov. 16), Nashville (Nov. 18) and the New York Rangers (Nov. 20) were postponed.
"Bit of shock but also a bit of relief that guys can get away from each other and we can stop this," Smith said when the pause was announced Monday. "The worst thing was waiting every day on tests … I think they got it right, gave us the proper time off. Guys got away from each other, isolated to themselves. Everyone is doing their best at this. There's no one to blame.
"But we had 20 guys to play in every game and there's no excuses."
Watson, who has played just twice this season due to an injury suffered in preseason, said he got "whacked pretty good when I first got Covid" but after two days, the symptoms had passed. Nick Holden, who was the second player to go into protocol, also experienced symptoms the first two days. Unfortunately, the virus spread amongst their families as Watson's wife tested positive, as did three of Holden's four children.
"We were trying our best to make sure they were safe and fortunately so far they haven't had too many bad symptoms, just some mild stuff," Holden said. "We're following the guidelines of Ontario Health and keeping the kids as safe as possible."
The Sens practiced for roughly 90 minutes Saturday and will practice again Sunday before they head to Colorado to face the Avalanche Monday. The team will also visit San Jose, Anaheim and Los Angeles on its upcoming four-game road trip.
"We're going to have to play simple, play as a team and really grind out these next couple of games but we know we're capable of doing that," Tkachuk said.
