On the road again.
The Ottawa Senators are on the road again. After a not so bad three game home-stand, they can’t wait to get on the road again.
That’ll do, Willie. That’ll do.
The Senators will actually play the next four games away from the friendly confines of the Canadian Tire Centre.
The trip includes stops in Minnesota, Dallas, New York and Philadelphia. While the Sens have mostly held their own on home ice, going 7-4-2, their time as the visitor hasn’t been nearly as fruitful as they are just 2-5-1 so far this year.
It goes without saying but they’ll need to find a way to bank some points on this tough four game stretch if they are going to keep pace in the Eastern Conference. It starts tonight against the Minnesota Wild.
See the thing about the Minnesota Wild is they are probably one the least talked about teams in all of pro sports. Like, when do you ever hear anything about the Minnesota Wild? Pretty sure their Coach is Jacques Lemaire and their Captain is Wes Walz but other than that, I really don’t know much about the Wild. They are a perennial playoff team in the tough Western Conference but due to an inability to get out of the first round in three straight seasons, they sort of get lost in the shuffle a little bit.
Yet through the first quarter of the season, they find themselves comfortably within the playoff cut-line in the West, sitting 3rd in the Central Division. They’ve been pretty tough on home ice too, going 6-2-2 so far this year.
Game Day skate at 12:30 PM today so we’ll have to wait to confirm the line up. Based on yesterday’s media availability, it sounds like Guy Boucher is leaning towards going with the same look at he did against the Florida Panthers. Tierney spent some time with Tkachuk and Stone towards the end of that game so we’ll see if that sticks or if White is back there tonight.
A best guess for now.
Boedker-Duchene-Batherson
Tkachuk-Tierney-Stone
Dzingel-White-Ryan
Pyatt-Smith-Paajarvi
Chabot-DeMelo
Lajoie-Ceci
Borowiecki-Jaros
This may come as a surprise to you but it sounds like Craig Anderson will start in goal. Puck drop is scheduled for 8:00 PM as this game is being played in the mostly made up Central time zone.
The game is available on Sportsnet 360 (never heard of it) and on RDS2, which you almost certainly don’t have. The good news is it’s 2018 and as I understand it, pirates will be providing video coverage of the game free of charge all across the internet.
And now, for your viewing pleasure, the Head2Head Table. Gather round in amazement as you learn that THE OTTAWA SENATORS HAVE THE LEAGUE’S BEST OFFENCE. Yes…really.
| HEAD2HEAD |  |
 |
|---|---|---|
| Record | 9-9-3 (21 pts) | 12-7-2 (26 pts) |
| Goals For | 3.57 (T-1st) | 3.10 (15th) |
| Goals Against | 4.19 (31st) | 2.67 (7th) |
| Power Play | 25.0% (7th) | 21.7% (12th) |
| Penalty Kill | 68.2% (31st) | 84.9% (3rd) |
| Shots For | 30.1 (22nd) | 31.5 (16th) |
| Shots Against | 38.1 (31st) | 31.1 (13th) |
| Leading Scorers | Duchene- 27 pts Stone- 24 pts Chabot- 24 pts |
Granlund- 19 pts Parise- 18 pts Koivu- 18 pts |
| Starting Goalies | Craig Anderson 9-6-3 3.78 GAA, .901 sv% |
Devan Dubnyk 9-5-2 2.38 GAA, .925 sv% |
