The Ottawa Senators enter Saturday’s action as the 28th place team in the National Hockey League.
Not at the bottom of the standings but close. Yet it’s pretty safe to say that nobody looks forward to a game against the Senators these days. You can beat them, sure. But you’ll have to work for it and especially in Ottawa.
They’ve put up an impressive 10-5-0 record on home ice so far this season. Only six teams in the entire league have more wins in their own rink. They’ve actually won 8 of their last 9 on home ice with the only loss coming in a one-goal game against the Boston Bruins.
Not bad for a bottom-feeder.
The Ottawa Senators will look to keep it rolling at the CTC when they host the Philadelphia Flyers.
Things got a little bit feisty between these two teams last time around. Not quite “Jason Spezza fighting Patrick Sharp” level of animosity but it was certainly trending in that direction.
To refresh your memory, the game ended with a real live turtle sighting on the ice in Philadelphia.
Majestic.
And pretty standard when it comes to these two teams, actually.
Scott Laughton won’t have a chance at the rare turtle hat trick today though as he’s sidelined with a groin injury.
Meanwhile, the Senators continue to battle what has become a ridiculous stretch of injuries of their own. Nikita Zaitsev and Dylan DeMelo were already sidelined with injuries and now Ron Hainsey is also on the shelf. Hainsey will be out until at least after the Christmas break.
That means Cody Goloubef, Erik Brannstrom, Max Lajoie and Andreas Englund all have to step up and play meaningful roles on the back end. It also means that Thomas Chabot may actually have to play 35+ minutes a night for the foreseeable future.
Here’s how the Senators are expected to line up for this one.
Tkachuk-Pageau-C.Brown
Namestnikov-Anisimov-Ennis
Paul-Tierney-Duclair
L.Brown-Beaudin-White
Chabot-Goloubef
Borowiecki-Brannstrom
Lajoie-Englund
Marcus Hogberg gets the start in goal for Ottawa.
Puck drop is scheduled for 7:08 PM with the game availble on SportsnetOne, TVA2 and ShadyInternetStreams3.
And now the table of the two heads.
| HEAD2HEAD |  |
 |
|---|---|---|
| Record | 19-11-5 (43 pts) | 15-18-3 (33 pts) |
| Goals For | 3.09 (14th) | 2.75 (21st) |
| Goals Against | 2.74 (9th) | 3.22 (24th) |
| Power Play | 19.5% (15th) | 11.4% (31st) |
| Penalty Kill | 82.9% (T-9th) | 82.3% (13th) |
| Shots For | 31.9 (12th) | 30.0 (24th) |
| Shots Against | 28.7 (2nd) | 32.7 (28th) |
| Leading Scorers | Konecny- 32 pts Couturier- 28 pts Giroux- 24 pts |
Duclair- 28 pts Pageau- 26 pts Chabot- 22 pts |
| Starting Goalie | Brian Elliott 7-4-2 2.96 GAA, .904 sv% |
Marcus Hogberg 1-1-1 2.93 GAA, .906 sv% |
