The Pittsburgh Penguins.
Even just typing the words immediately takes me back to that rainy night in May. They say time heals all wounds but some six months later, the disappointment from that night still lingers. A new team and a different season but still, the Pittsburgh fucking Penguins. A reminder of what could have been and what almost was.
The Ottawa Senators welcome the two-time defending Stanley Cup Champions to the Canadian Tire Centre. That’s right, an actual Ottawa Senators’ hockey game will be played tonight.
It’s been five long days since we last saw our team. So much has changed since then. There was that jersey release. And umm that Pierre Dorion radio interview. And well that was about it.
God I’ve missed Senators hockey.
To say that there’s a history between the Senators and Penguins would be an understatement.
Just six months ago they went toe to toe in an epic Eastern Conference Final. It was a series where nobody gave Ottawa much of a chance but the Senators slugged it out with the now back to back Champs and pushed them to the brink. There was plenty of hostility over the course of those two weeks and it will still be fresh in the minds of the players when they take the ice tonight.
One player that wasn’t a part of that series and could have very well made the difference- Matt Duchene. After playing his first two games as a Senator over in Sweden, he makes his home debut. Duchene will have plenty of friends and family in attendance for this one and will certainly want to put on a show in his first game at the CTC.
🔥 @Matt9Duchene makes his home debut for the #Sens tomorrow night. 🔥
BE THERE: https://t.co/tDb0oDzbXx pic.twitter.com/GAtF1EO6zw
— Ottawa Senators (@Senators) November 15, 2017
Some good news for the Senators on the injury front too as they’ll have both Bobby Ryan and Mark Borowiecki back in the line up. Nick Paul was called up from Belleville this morning so we’ll see what the line up looks like at the morning skate.
Guy Boucher had his team on the ice for a spirited practice yesterday, their first since returning from Sweden and they’ll be on the ice again this morning for a Game Day skate. Here’s how Boucher lined ’em up yesterday.
Hoffman-Brassard-Stone
Dzingel-Duchene-Ryan
Pyatt-Pageau-DiDomenico
Burrows-Thompson-Wideman
Claesson-Karlsson
Phaneuf-Ceci
Oduya-Borowiecki
Craig Anderson gets the start in the Ottawa goal. Puck drop is scheduled for just after 7:30 PM.
 |
 |
 |
|---|---|---|
| Record | 10-7-3 | 8-3-5 |
| Goals For | 2.75 (24th) | 3.63 (3rd) |
| Goals Against | 3.55 (28th) | 3.06 (17th) |
| Power Play | 24.3% (5th) | 20.6% (12th) |
| Penalty Kill | 77.5% (25th) | 78.7% (T-21st) |
| Shots For/Shots Against | 35.5 (4th) 31.1 (13th) |
32.1 (T-14th) 30.1 (5th) |
| Ice Time Leaders | Letang- 25:58 Dumoulin- 20:46 Crosby- 20:38 |
Karlsson- 25:00 Ceci- 22:17 Phaneuf- 21:16 |
| Leading Scorers | Kessel- 24 pts Malkin- 21 pts Crosby- 15 pts |
Stone- 19 pts Karlsson- 17 pts Hoffman- 16 pts |
| Team Shooting % | 7.7% (28th) | 11.3% (T-7th) |
