The Ottawa Senators have had a tough time with the Edmonton Oilers this season.
And when I say tough time, that’s a wee bit of an understatement. The Oilers have won seven straight against the Senators this year, outscoring Ottawa by a 34-15 margin. Some of the lowest points have been against this particular hockey club.
Although all of those unfortunate moments took place in Edmonton. The two times the teams battled at the Canadian Tire Centre, the games were actually much closer including a 3-1 Oiler win and a one-goal game where the Senators actually carried the play most of the night.
So the bad news is, it’s the Edmonton Oilers again. The good news, it ain’t in Edmonton!
Senators and Oilers battle at the Canadian Tire Centre later tonight…er evening. No, afternoon. 5:00 PM. Whatever the hell 5:00 PM is.
Some questions marks remain about tonight’s lineup. Erik Gudbranson has rejoined the team after the birth of his son and he did skate this morning but DJ Smith had not yet made a decision about his status.
On Erik Brannstrom, he’s definitely going to get into one of the next two games but they haven’t decided which one. The Head Coach did make a point of saying that Brannstrom will play more minutes post-deadline though. The Senators obviously have a couple UFAs they want to showcase in the lead up to the deadline.
A best guess at the lines for now.
Tkachuk-Norris-Paul
Stützle-Tierney-Batherson
Dzingel-Bishop-C. Brown
Formenton-Anisimov-Dadonov
Chabot-Zaitsev
Reilly-Zub
Coburn/Brannstrom-J. Brown
For the first time in a little under two months, Marcus Hogberg gets the start in goal for Ottawa.
Puck drop is scheduled for just after 5:00 PM for some reason. The game is available on TSN5, Sportsnet West and on the radio at TSN1200. Not sure if internet pirates will be up at this strange hour but who knows.
Here’s a closer look at how these two teams match-up.
| HEAD2HEAD |  |
 |
|---|---|---|
| Record | 24-14-2 (50 pts) | 13-23-4 (30 pts) |
| Goals For | 3.28 (T-5th) | 2.60 (24th) |
| Goals Against | 2.85 (15th) | 3.73 (31st) |
| Power Play | 26.6% (2nd) | 15.0% (26th) |
| Penalty Kill | 78.8% (17th) | 76.6% (22nd) |
| Shots For | 30.2 (10th) | 31.1 (7th) |
| Shots Against | 30.9 (18th) | 32.9 (29th) |
| Leading Scorers | McDavid- 68 pts Draisaitl- 61 pts Barrie- 34 pts RNH- 28 pts Nurse- 28 pts |
Chabot- 24 pts Tkachuk- 24 pts Batherson- 23 pts Brown- 21 pts Norris- 21 pts |
| Starting Goalie | TBD | TBD |
