It started with signs of life and now it’s probably fair to say that the Ottawa Senators have “turned the corner”.
That’s a relative term of course and considering how bad they looked at times in the first few months of the season, the bar was set pretty low. But there is just no doubt that this team is playing like a more organized, more committed and just generally more effective collection of hockey players.
It took a bit of time for the messages from Jacques Martin to sink in and there was clearly some resistance early on but watching that game against the Boston Bruins on Thursday night, it’s obvious that they’re starting to buy in. And even though they didn’t get the result last time out, they took one of the top teams in the league to the limit and really, dominated that game for large stretches.
The Senators look to build on that strong effort when they welcome another one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference. This time, it’s DJ-ZBad and the rest of the New York Rangers rolling into town on a Saturday night.
Like the game against Boston, the Senators are catching the Rangers on a back to back. New York is coming off an ugly loss on home ice against the Golden Knights which came on the heels of another ugly loss to the San Jose Sharks, if you can believe it. They’ll be an angry group at the CeeTeeCee tonight.
Here’s how the Senators will line up for this one.
Tkachuk-Stützle-Giroux
Joseph-Norris-Tarasenko
Greig-Pinto-Batherson
Kelly-Chartier-Kastelic
Sanderson-Zub
Chabot-Chychrun
Brannstrom-Bernard-Docker
Korpisalo starts.
Puck drop is scheduled for 7:08 PM at The Tire. The game is available on Sportsnet One (siiiiigh) and on TSN1200. Streaming is an option too or you can pick up some last minute tickets courtesy of this handy SensChirp promo code
Here’s a table
And here’s another one for good measure.
| HEAD2HEAD |  |
 |
|---|---|---|
| Record | 29-16-3 (61 pts) | 18-24-2 (38 pts) |
| Goals For | 3.19 (14th) | 3.36 (11th) |
| Goals Against | 2.88 (10th) | 3.59 (30th) |
| Power Play | 27.7% (2nd) | 15.8% (24th) |
| Penalty Kill | 83.3% (5th) | 73.1% (30th) |
| Shots For | 31.4 (11th) | 32.8 (8th) |
| Shots Against | 28.4 (6th) | 30.6 (19th) |
| Leading Scorers | Panarin-63 pts Trocheck-45 pts Zibanejad-44 pts Kreider-43 pts Fox-36 pts |
Stutzle-45 pts Giroux-40 pts Tkachuk-37 pts Batherson-36 pts Tarasenko-32 pts |
| Starting Goalie | Jonathan Quick 9-4-2 2.46 GAA, .915 sv% |
Joonas Korpisalo 10-15-2 3.45 GAA, .888 sv% |
