Seven. Seven is enough.
Actually, three was plenty but seven is just ridiculous. This losing streak has gone from just a bump in the road to a full blown sinkhole and it has the potential to completely derail the season for the Ottawa Senators.
They have to find a way to snap out of this and it has to start tonight against the New York Islanders.
We may only be 24 games into the NHL season but I’m going to go ahead and call this….THE BIGGEST GAME OF THE YEAR.
And it comes against one of the league’s hottest teams.
The New York Islanders have reeled off four straight, including a win over Ottawa last Saturday, and have an impressive 7-2-1 record in their last ten. Their offence is led by UFA-to-be John Tavares who is the most dangerous player in what is surprisingly the league’s top ranked offence. They score more than 3.6 goals per game and they have scored 5 or more in five of their last eight games.
Ottawa was on the ice for practice yesterday and not surprisingly, power play was a huge part of their focus.
There’s no doubt that this team’s ineffective play with the man advantage is costing them games at this point and on some nights, it has completely sucked the life out of this group. The Coaching Staff obviously recognizes it and is trying everything to get it going. Well, except for loading up one unit.
Guy Boucher met with the media yesterday in Brooklyn and explained that there will be at least one change to his line up. As Boucher put it, “the kid is in”. Thomas Chabot draws in on defence and Ben Harpur comes out.
#Sens Head Coach Guy Boucher shares some updates on his line-up before tomorrow’s game in Brooklyn versus the Islanders. pic.twitter.com/MXnsYPG2oe
— Ottawa Senators (@Senators) November 30, 2017
No game day skate today so a best guess (and maybe a little wishful thinking) at the line up for now.
Ryan-Brassard-Stone
Smith-Duchene-Hoffman
Dzingel-Pageau-Pyatt
Burrows-Thompson-Dumont
Claesson-Karlsson
Phaneuf-Ceci
Oduya-Chabot
Craig Anderson is expected to get the start in the Ottawa goal. Puck drop is scheduled for just after 7:00 PM.
GO SENS GO!
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 |
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|---|---|---|
| Record | 8-9-6 (22 pts) | 15-7-2 (32 pts) |
| Goals For | 2.91 (16th) | 3.67 (1st) |
| Goals Against | 3.13 (T-24th) | 3.13 (T-24th) |
| Power Play | 15.7% (28th) | 21.2% (12th) |
| Penalty Kill | 80.0% (18th) | 79.2 (20th) |
| Shots For/Shots Against | 30.7 (22nd) 29.4 (3rd) |
31.0 (18th) 32.3 (22nd) |
| Scoring Leaders | Stone- 24 pts Hoffman- 19 pts Brassard- 17 pts |
Tavares- 28 pts Bailey- 28 pts Lee- 25 pts |
| Team Save % | .894% (27th) | .903% (T-21st) |
| Team Shooting % | 9.5% (T-13th) | 11.8% (1st) |
