The Ottawa Senators played last night.
Based on everything I thought we knew about the NHL schedule, that win over the New York Rangers should have been followed by five or six days of rest. Time to celebrate and reflect on a successful 50 minute effort.
See, we had settled into a nice routine.
Day 1, we would talk about last night’s game. On Day 2, some obscure Melnyk-related scandal would keep us busy. On Day 3, Pierre Dorion would be spotted near an NHL stadium which would give us a good 24 hours of unsubstantiated trade rumours. Day 4, we’d spend some time lamenting over the inevitable relocation of the franchise.
And then by Day 5 or 6 we’d turn our attention to the next actual game.
It worked for us.
But apparently, those days are over. For the next month or so, the Ottawa Senators are going to have an actual NHL schedule to deal with.
They are right back at it tonight against the hottest team in the league, the New York Islanders.
The Islanders were one of the biggest surprises last season and it certainly seems like they have picked up right where they left off. They sit in second in the Metropolitan Division and have won a ridiculous nine straight games.
They’ve also had a couple days off and have patiently been waiting for the Senators, at whatever stadium they play at these days.
Two changes to the line up as Artem Anisimov and Cody Goloubef draw in while Filip Chlapik and Erik Brannstrom sit.
Tkachuk-Pageau-Duclair
Paul-Namestnikov-Brown
Ennis-Tierney-Ryan
Beaudin-Anisimov-Boedker
Chabot-Zaitsev
Goloubef-Hainsey
Borowiecki-DeMelo
Craig Anderson gets the start in goal for Ottawa.
Puck drop is scheduled for just after 7:00 PM. The game is available on TSN5 and RDS2. Stream it online, if you dare.
Here is a table.
And here is THE table.
| HEAD2HEAD |  |
 |
|---|---|---|
| Record | 4-8-1 (9 pts) | 10-3-0 (20 pts) |
| Goals For | 2.85 (20th) | 3.00 (T-16th) |
| Goals Against | 3.31 (T-20th) | 2.23 (3rd) |
| Power Play | 8.3% (31st) | 22.7% (10th) |
| Penalty Kill | 78.9% (22nd) | 83.8% (10th) |
| Shots For | 31.1 (15th) | 27.0 (31st) |
| Shots Against | 34.7 (28th) | 31.4 (17th) |
| Leading Scorers | Brown- 12 pts Pageau- 9 pts Chabot- 9 pts |
Barzal- 11 pts Bailey- 11 pts Nelson- 10 pts |
| Starting Goalie | Craig Anderson 2-5-0 3.09 GAA, .900 sv% |
Thomas Greiss 5-1-0 2.15 GAA, .933 sv% |
