So far, the Ottawa Senators have done their best work away from the Canadian Tire Centre.
As the visitors, they are an impressive 3-0-0, outscoring the opposition to the tune of 15-3. It has been a different story at home though as they’ve gone three games without a victory.
That’s something they’ll want to figure out in a hurry. The Sens play their next four at the Canadian Tire Centre and seven of the next eight leading up to that trip to Sweden later next month.
This latest home stand continues tonight against the surprising New Jersey Devils.
Pegged by many experts to be a bottom feeder this season, the Devils have got off to a blistering start. Their 5-1-1 record has them sitting in a first place tie in the Metropolitan Division and they roll into Ottawa with a perfect 3-0-0 record on the road. For years this New Jersey team has had a reputation as a boring, defence-first group but those days are long gone.
Their line up is filled with speedy young guys that you probably hadn’t heard of before this season. Will Butcher, Jesper Bratt, Brian Gibbons and Miles Wood have all been a big part of New Jersey’s hot start.
Meanwhile the Senators are looking to bounce back from a fairly lifeless performance in their first game back from a successful road trip. While they carried the play against the Canucks most of the way, they just weren’t able to generate enough high-quality scoring chances. Traffic in front and creating second and third chances will be a big part of Ottawa’s game plan for this one.
#Sens Head Coach Guy Boucher talks about returning home following the Western road trip and preparing for the Devils. pic.twitter.com/f25QspfeDA
— Ottawa Senators (@Senators) October 18, 2017
They’ll make one change to their line up as Mark Borowiecki draws out due to a minor injury. With Boro out, Logan Brown gets a chance to play his second game of the regular season. Only an off-ice workout yesterday so we’ll have to wait until the 10:30 AM morning skate to confirm the line up.
Ryan-Brassard-Stone
Smith-Turris-Dzingel
Hoffman-Pageau-Pyatt
Thompson-Brown-Burrows
Phaneuf-Karlsson
Oduya-Ceci
Claesson-Wideman
Craig Anderson gets the start in the Ottawa goal. Puck drop is scheduled for just after 7:30 PM with the game available on TSN5.
 |
 |
 |
|---|---|---|
| Record | 5-1-0 | 3-1-2 |
| Goals For | 4.17 (3rd) | 3.17 (12th) |
| Goals Against | 2.83 (T-12th) | 1.83 (2nd) |
| Power Play | 30.8% (1st) | 16.1% (21st) |
| Penalty Kill | 77.4% (24th) | 94.1% (2nd) |
| Shots For/Shots Against | 29.5 (27th) 35.3 (27th) |
33.8 (10th) 28.5 (2nd) |
| Ice Time Leaders | Santini- 20:57 Greene- 20:36 Severson- 19:50 |
Karlsson- 22:25 Ceci- 22:22 Phaneuf- 22:08 |
| Leading Scorers | Butcher- 9 pts Bratt- 6 pts Henrique- 6 pts |
Turris- 7 pts Brassard- 6 pts Stone- 6 pts |
| Team Shooting % | 14.1% (1st) | 9.3% (18th) |
