When the Chicago Blackhawks visit the Senators in Ottawa, it has the look of just any other game.
Two teams that don’t see a lot of each other, meeting in the back half of the season and with not a whole lot to play for. The Blackhawks are 17 points out of a playoff spot in the West. The Senators are 27 points back of the second Wild Card spot in the East. Chicago is coming in fairly cold. The Senators have won back to back games for the first time in more than a month.
And yet, there will be a little more excitement than usual in the air tonight. For the first time since capacity restrictions lifted, it’s the Sens on a Saturday night in the Nation’s Capital. And a quick look at the seating chart suggests it could be one of the bigger crowds we’ve seen in awhile.
A little bit of normal sounds nice, actually.
The Ottawa Senators host the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday at the Canadian Tire Centre.
No game day skate for the Senators this morning but DJ Smith has just wrapped up his media availability and it sounds like they’ll go with a similar look at the other night against the Kraken. A Kraken. The Krakens.
Connor Brown and Thomas Chabot are considered game-time decisions but the Coach says he expects they’ll both play.
Tkachuk-Norris-Brown
Formenton Stützle-Gaudette
Paul-White-Sanford
Kelly-Gambrell-Watson
Chabot-Zub
Holden-Zaitsev
Brannstrom-Brown
Anton Forsberg gets another start for the Senators. DJ Smith mentioned that Filip Gustavsson is likely to start on Monday against the Coyotes.
Puck drop is scheduled for 7:08 PM. The game is available on CityTV (after Dharma and Greg), Sportsnet One (after a one-hour feature on Auston Matthews’ mustache) and on Sportsnet East. The soothing sounds of Dean and Gord are available at TSN1200 and streams will be sent directly to the inbox of all SensChirp Premium Account Holders. Or you can head down to the rink and watch it with thousands of your closest friends.
Today’s HEAD2HEAD table was painstakingly carefully crafted from the finest collection of columns, rows and statistics. You’re welcome.
| HEAD2HEAD |  |
 |
|---|---|---|
| Record | 21-30-8 (50 pts) | 21-31-5 (47 pts) |
| Goals For | 2.58 (T-27th) | 2.63 (T-25th) |
| Goals Against | 3.44 (25th) | 3.19 (21st) |
| Power Play | 20.2% (T-17th) | 18.1% (17th) |
| Penalty Kill | 75.4% (26th) | 80.3% (13th) |
| Shots For | 28.8 (29th) | 30.0 (19th) |
| Shots Against | 32.1 (21st) | 33.8 (27th) |
| Leading Scorers | Kane- 65 pts DeBrincat- 55 pts Jones- 37 pts Hagel- 35 pts Strome- 31 pts |
Tkachuk- 42 pts Batherson- 34 pts Stutzle- 34 pts Brown- 32 pts Chabot- 32 pts |
| Starting Goalie | Marc-Andre Fleury 18-20-4 2.92 GAA, .908 sv% |
Anton Forsberg 13-10-2 2.70 GAA, .921 sv% |
