The Ottawa Senators finally appear to have this thing pointed in the right direction.
Sure, they continue to be horribly cursed on the injury front and their poor, poor shoulders continue to be the target of that curse but still, they’re playing much better. Points in five of their last six, a 6-3-1 record in their last ten games and suddenly, just two games below .500.
And yet there is much work to do. Many teams to pass and a consistently large gap to close before they can crawl their way back into the playoff picture in the Eastern Conference. One of the teams they need to reel in- the truly dreadful and horrible and generally tiny Montreal Canadiens.
And because of that this game is officially- THE BIGGEST GAME OF THE YEAR!
With the injuries piling up, the Senators have again turned to Belleville in hopes of finding some additional strong-shouldered hockey-playing humans.
This time it’s Jake Lucchini and Dillon Heatherington that are on the way up. Lucchini has 23 points in 24 games with BSens this season. He’s also 27 years old and will be making his NHL debut tonight.
But there’s some good news on the injury front this morning as it sounds like the injury to Tim Stützle is actually pretty minor. As in like, out a week kind of thing. A true Christmas miracle.
Here’s how the Senators are expected to line up for this one.
Tkachuk-Brassard-Giroux
DeBrincat-Pinto-Batherson
Lucchini-Chartier-Gambrell
Kelly-Kastelic-Watson
Chabot-Zaitsev
Sanderson-Hamonic
Brannstrom-Holden
No word on a starting goalie although it’s almost certainly Cam Talbot. Peter Sidorkiewicz is ready to go if they need him.
Puck drop is scheduled for 7:08 PM although the mere presence of the Montreal Canadiens means that there is likely a lengthy and unnecessary pregame ceremony planned to honour Stephane Robidas or something. Sorry Stephane, that was uncalled for. Sadly, the game is available on Sportsnet. RDS and TSN1200 are on it too. Les flux Internet illégaux couleront comme de l’eau. Merci Bort.
Mmmm not sure about that one.
Wondering how these teams match-up or just want to see that funny toilet seat picture? The HEAD2HEAD table has both of those things covered.
| HEAD2HEAD |  |
 |
|---|---|---|
| Record | 14-12-2 (30 pts) | 12-14-2 (26 pts) |
| Goals For | 2.85 (25th) | 3.07 (16th) |
| Goals Against | 3.46 (23rd) | 3.18 (18th) |
| Power Play | 14.4% (30th) | 27.4% (6th) |
| Penalty Kill | 80.8% (10th) | 78.6% (17th) |
| Shots For | 29.3 (30th) | 33.9 (6th) |
| Shots Against | 33.1 (25th) | 33.1 (25th) |
| Leading Scorers | Suzuki- 29 pts Caufield- 25 pts Dach- 19 pts Monahan- 17 pts Dvorak- 12 pts |
Tkachuk- 31 pts Stutzle- 27 pts Giroux- 26 pts Batherson- 24 pts DeBrincat- 24 pts |
| Starting Goalie | Sam Montembeault 5-2-2 2.97 GAA, .908 sv% |
Cam Talbot 6-7-0 2.55 GAA, .917 sv% |
