You know what? Fuck this losing streak.
Enough of worrying about who plays how many minutes. Enough worrying about which player Guy Boucher loves the most (it’s Tom Pyatt, by the way). Enough worrying about Cody frigging Ceci. Okay actually you can keep doing all those things as much as you want. Because otherwise, what would we talk about?
But also, let’s win a damn hockey game.
The Ottawa Senators begin a weekend back to back against the top team in the Metro Division, the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Not sure there’s such thing as a good time to face the Blue Jackets but this is an especially unfortunate match-up for the goal-hungry Ottawa Senators.
Columbus doesn’t give up much of anything and when they do, the leading candidate for the Vezina Trophy, Sergei Bobrovsky is there to back them up. Bobrovsky comes into this one with an incredible .936 save percentage and a 1.91 goals against average. He’s given up two goals or less in his last six starts. If the Blue Jackets wanted to start their back up goalie tonight I would be totally okay with that.
For no particular reason, here is a video of Matt Duchene scoring a bunch of goals.
On the Senators side of things, it sounds like Guy Boucher is weighing his options, especially on defence. The Head Coach met with the media yesterday and seemed to hint at the possibility of both Thomas Chabot and Ben Harpur dressing for this one and likely going with 12 forwards and 6 defenceman. Freddy Claesson is the odd man out.
Up front, Gabriel Dumont is expected to make his Sens debut, wearing the #40. Nick Paul will also play. Chris DiDomenico, who was a healthy scratch in Washington, was placed on waivers yesterday. Today, he was claimed by the Tampa Bay Lightning. I suspect the Senators didn’t see that one coming.
#Sens Head Coach Guy Boucher speaks with the media about the team’s thanksgiving meeting and the emphasis on sticking to their identity. pic.twitter.com/GuiekVGSro
— Ottawa Senators (@Senators) November 23, 2017
The Senators are on the ice for a game day skate today at 11:30 AM. A best guess at the Ottawa line up for now.
Dzingel-Brassard-Stone
Hoffman-Duchene-Ryan
Burrows-Pageau-Pyatt
Paul-Thompson-Dumont
Phaneuf-Karlsson
Harpur-Ceci
Oduya-Chabot
uosɹǝpu∀ ƃᴉɐɹƆ gets the start for Ottawa. Puck drop is scheduled for just after 7:00 PM.
 |
 |
 |
|---|---|---|
| Record | 8-6-6 (22 pts) | 14-7-1 (29 pts) |
| Goals For | 3.15 (10th) | 2.77 (20th) |
| Goals Against | 3.15 (23rd) | 2.36 (T-2nd) |
| Power Play | 16.9% (23rd) | 10.0% (31st) |
| Penalty Kill | 78.6% (20th) | 83.6% (10th) |
| Shots For/Shots Against | 31.0 (T-18th) 29.5 (4th) |
34.9 (4th) 30.8 (8th) |
| Scoring Leaders | Stone- 21 pts Hoffman- 17 pts Karlsson- 17 pts |
Panarin- 15 pts Bjorkstrand- 13 pts Werenski- 12 pts |
| Team Shooting % | 10.2% (T-12th) | 8.0% (T-25th) |
| Team Save % | .893 (26th) | .923% (T-2nd) |
