Road wins haven’t come easy for this year’s edition of the Ottawa Senators.
Not quite “38 straight losses on the road” levels but it’s been a struggle. They’ve posted a respectable 5-6-1 record on home ice but outside of the friendly confines of the Canadian Tire Centre, they’ve stumbled a little bit going 4-11-0.
Which is why last night’s shootout win over the Calgary Flames had to come as a huge relief for the Senators.
Despite letting a two-goal lead slip away in the third period, the Senators found a way to get it done in a shootout.
And while the Senators were happy to come away with the win, Head Coach DJ Smith was clearly not pleased with the way the game was called. The Flames finished the game with an 8-2 edge in power plays including a stretch of five straight at one point in the game.
In his post-game remarks, Smith was careful with his words but you could tell he was frustrated.
We’ll see what the Senators have left in the tank heading into Edmonton tonight.
It’s the first of three straight against Connor McDavid and the Oilers. Ottawa has had more than their fair share of struggles against Edmonton this season, dropping all four games.
The game plan against McDavid is simple though. Locate him and tackle him immediately. If that fails, just hope and pray.
No game day skate for the Senators today and because DJ Smith won’t meet with the media until 6:15 PM, the lineup will be a bit of a mystery until closer to game time.
Erik Brannstrom played just 5:19 last night as Jack Capuano rolled five defenceman for most of the game. The combination of that early penalty Brannstrom took and all the time Ottawa spent on the penalty kill are the likely reasons why but he’s back in tonight.
One change to the forward group though as Matthew Peca draws in for Artem Anisimov.
We’ll confirm this lineup later today.
Tkachuk-Tierney -C. Brown
Paul-White-Dadonov
Stützle-Norris-Batherson
Dzingel-Peca-Watson
Chabot-Zaitsev
Reilly-Zub
Brannstrom-Gudbranson
Joey Daccord starts.
Puck drop is scheduled for 9:08 PM with the game available on TSN5, Sportsnet West, RDS and on the radio at TSN 1200. SADYH ETRNNIET SMARSTE LIWL EB EDAM AAILBAEVL CELRSO OT MEGA ETIM.
Direct your eyes slightly below this collection of words to access today’s HEAD2HEAD table.
| HEAD2HEAD |  |
 |
|---|---|---|
| Record | 9-17-1 (19 pts) | 15-11-0 (30 pts) |
| Goals For | 2.67 (24th) | 3.19 (11th) |
| Goals Against | 3.89 (31st) | 3.08 (T-21st) |
| Power Play | 14.7% (27th) | 25.3% (T-8th) |
| Penalty Kill | 75.0% (23rd) | 75.9% (22nd) |
| Shots For | 32.1 (4th) | 30.8 (10th) |
| Shots Against | 31.5 (26th) | 32.1 (28th) |
| Leading Scorers | Batherson- 18 pts Tkachuk- 18 pts Chabot- 17 pts Norris- 15 pts Stützle- 14 pts |
McDavid- 43 pts Draisaitl- 36 pts RNH- 20 pts Barrie- 18 pts Nurse- 16 pts |
| Starting Goalie | Joey Daccord (TBD) 0-1-0 2.52 GAA, .909 sv% |
Mikko Koskinen 7-9-0 3.39 GAA, .897 sv% |
