OTTAWA -- For what it's worth, the Arizona Coyotes will have the advantage of being the more rested team when they take on the Ottawa Senators at Canadian Tire Centre Tuesday night.
The game can be seen on FOX Sports Arizona and FOX Sports GO, starting at 4 p.m.
The Coyotes, who will be playing just their second game of the season after opening with an overtime victory over the Philadelphia Flyers on home ice Saturday, were kicked back in their Ottawa hotels while the Senators were getting crunched 5-1 in Detroit on Monday.
The game in Ottawa marks the first of six in a row on the road, within a 10-day span, for the Coyotes. All in the Eastern time zone.
"I think it's really good," Coyotes coach Dave Tippett said. "With as many young players, as many new players, it's going to be a good test for us. We're going to go into some buildings where we're not going to have time to be young and inexperienced. We're going to have to dig right in. We'll throw guys in the fire a little bit and see how they react."
The Coyotes dressed four rookies against the Flyers: Winger Lawson Crouse, defenseman Jakob Chychrun and centers Laurent Dauphin and Christian Dvorak. A fifth freshman, 2015 third overall pick Dylan Strome, was a healthy scratch Saturday and is expected to make his debut against the Senators.
"We want to get everybody up and going. We want to make sure everybody's getting their chance," Tippett said. "He's got high, high skill, high hockey IQ, but it's a big jump to come from junior hockey where you can really dominate with the puck to coming in here and playing a really sound game and still be able to make those plays."
While much has been made of the Coyotes' youth movement, it should be noted that their four goals in the opener were scored by 40-year-old captain Shane Doan, 31-year-old Brad Richardson and co-captains Martin Hanzal and Oliver Ekman-Larsson.
Another who caught the eye of Tippett on Saturday was second-year wing Jordan Martinook, who had a strong game while playing alongside Richardson and Doan.
"He's one of those guys who plays in the guts of the game," Tippett said. "He played like a good veteran tonight, even though he's a second-year player."
The Senators opened the season with a pair of wins at home -- one in overtime, one in a shootout, but were outshot by the Red Wings 32-25 on Monday night but had only a shorthanded goal by winger Ryan Dzingel to show for their efforts.
It was the second in two games for Dzingel, who played 30 games for Ottawa as a rookie last season and was then was the surprise of camp for new coach Guy Boucher.
"We weren't competing," Boucher said of the team's effort in Detroit. "And that's what you deserve when you don't compete."
The Senators will go back to their starting goaltender, Craig Anderson. Backup Andrew Hammond played in Detroit and gave up a bad goal, the first of a hat trick by defensemen Mike Green, that opened the flood gates for the Red Wings. Their outburst saw them score three times in a 5:34 spread to take a comfortable lead into the intermission.
"You're asking for trouble when you react like that after a goal," said Boucher, whose power play was 0-for-3 and is now 0-for-9 on the season. "We're getting good shots but we're not screening the goalie. He's making good saves because he can see the puck."
The Senators will try to change that against the Coyotes.
"We know the mistakes we made," said Senators defenseman Dion Phaneuf. "We've got an important game (Tuesday) and it's about responding."
Tippett said defenseman Michael Stone is still a few days away from being ready to make his season debut, but Kevin Connauton will be in the lineup. Connauton missed most of the preseason and Saturday's opener with a lower-body injury.
