The first four games of the season have been a bit of a mixed bag for the Ottawa Senators.
Two wins, two losses, eight goals for and nine goals against. Special teams look better, goaltending is greatly improved and in general, they are in every game, which is a refreshing change from the way they started last season.
The Senators continue a four-game home-stand when they host Mika Zibanejad and the New York Rangers.
With the early puck drop, there will be no game day skate for the Senators today. DJ Smith will meet with the media around 10:30 AM to outline any potential changes to his lineup.
What we do know, based on yesterday’s updates, is the Senators will be without Shane Pinto for at least this afternoon. And according to this morning’s update, it’s going to be a bit longer than that. Pinto will miss the remaining games on this homestand and won’t join the team on their upcoming road trip. That means he’s out for at least the next five games.
With Shane Pinto out of the lineup, Nick Paul will shift to centre. Not ideal obviously but he does have some experience at the position. One change on defence as Victor Mete takes Michael Del Zotto’s spot. Mete will be paired with Josh Brown will Nick Holden moves to the second pair with Nikita Zaitsev.
Here’s a best guess at how the Senators will look for this one.
Tkachuk-Norris-Batherson
Stützle-Paul-Brown
Formenton-Tierney-Kelly
Sanford-Shaw-Ennis
Chabot-Zub
Holden-Zaitsev
Mete-Brown
Matt Murray gets the start in goal.
Puck drop is scheduled for just after 1:00 PM. The game is available on TSN5, RDS and TSN1200. Free internet streams will be available for the low, low price of $12.99.
Here’s a closer look at this afternoon’s match-up via the HEAD2HEAD table.
| HEAD2HEAD |  |
 |
|---|---|---|
| Record | 3-1-1 (7 pts) | 2-2-0 (4 pts) |
| Goals For | 2.20 (24th) | 2.00 (T-27th) |
| Goals Against | 2.20 (T-6th) | 2.25 (T-8th) |
| Power Play | 10.0% (28th) | 33.3% (T-5th) |
| Penalty Kill | 76.5% (21st) | 76.9% (T-17th) |
| Shots For | 26.0 (30th) | 28.8 (25th) |
| Shots Against | 31.0 (T-15th) | 33.8 (21st) |
| Leading Scorers | Zibanejad- 5 pts Fox- 4 pts Kreider- 3 pts Lafreniere- 3 pts Panarin- 3 pts |
Brown- 3 pts Ennis- 3 pts Tierney- 3 pts Batherson- 2 pts Zub- 2 pts |
| Starting Goalie | Igor Shesterkin 3-0-1 1.48 GAA, .953 sv% |
Matt Murray 0-1-0 2.07 GAA, .917 sv% |
