While rumours swirl away from the rink, the Ottawa Senators shift the focus to their last game before the trip to Sweden.
In a rare afternoon game at the Canadian Tire Centre, the Senators get their first look at the surprisingly competent Vegas Golden Knights.
Being an expansion team is supposed to come with at least two years of unfathomable struggle on the ice. 18 losses in a row. 38 straight road losses. You know, that sort of thing.
It just hasn’t been that way for the Golden Knights. They’ve stormed out of the gates, registering the fastest start for an expansion team, in any major sport. The expansion draft rules put this team in a more favourable spot than most new teams entering the league but even still, nobody expected them to be this good this fast.
And looking at their roster, I honestly have no idea how they’re getting it done.
Vegas comes into this game sitting second in the competitive Pacific Division, with a shocking 8-4-0 record. Although, they have lost three straight, including a 2-1 setback against the Bruins on Thursday night. Also, their Twitter account is terrible.
Meanwhile, the Senators have to find a way to not let the off-ice rumours become a distraction for the team.
Kyle Turris is obviously an important part of the current line up but the rumours about his future in Ottawa have been out there since early in the preseason. That his name is being included in trade talks shouldn’t come as a huge surprise to him or the rest of the team.
Either way, it would be nice to have that distraction dealt with as soon as possible.
Boucher met with the media yesterday and explained that Dion Phaneuf should be fine for the game tonight but Mark Borowiecki is not expected to play. Ben Harpur was recalled from Belleville last night although unless there’s an injury, it seems unlikely he actually plays tonight.
A best guess at the line up for now. There has been plenty of juggling of the forward lines and the defence pairings the last few days so don’t be surprised if this is completely mixed up during the game.
Pyatt-Brassard-Stone
Dzingel-Turris-Smith
Hoffman-Pageau-DiDomenico
Burrows-Thompson-Rodewald
Oduya-Karlsson
Phaneuf-Ceci
Claesson-Wideman
Craig Anderson gets the start in the Ottawa goal. Puck drop is scheduled for just after 2:00 PM.
 |
 |
 |
|---|---|---|
| Record | 8-4-0 | 6-2-5 |
| Goals For | 3.50 (7th) | 3.54 (6th) |
| Goals Against | 2.75 (10th) | 2.92 (T-14th) |
| Power Play | 16.0% (21st) | 20.8% (T-8th) |
| Penalty Kill | 80.0% (T-19th) | 86.1% (5th) |
| Shots For/Shots Against | 29.8 (26th) 33.2 (22nd) |
31.8 (14th) 31.5 (13th) |
| Ice Time Leaders | Schmidt- 21:56 Sbisa- 19:51 Hunt- 19:30 |
Karlsson- 25:12 Ceci- 22:43 Phaneuf- 21:39 |
| Leading Scorers | Neal- 10 pts Smith- 9 pts Perron- 8 pts |
Stone- 14 pts Hoffman- 12 pts Karlsson- 12 pts |
| CorsiFor% | 47.36% (26th) | 45.02% (31st) |
| Team Save % | .917% (8th) | .907% (T-16th) |
