Right back at it.
Less than 24 hours after gutting out a win over the Flyers with a depleted line up, the Ottawa Senators get set to take on the well-rested New Jersey Devils.
Back to backs are tough even under normal circumstances but this one is especially daunting for the Sens.
This New Jersey team hasn’t played since last Friday. A full week between games. When you add in the fact that Ottawa is missing a handful of key forwards and that the Devils have been one of the league’s most impressive teams in the early going, the Senators are definitely up against it.
But they found a way to grind one out last night and they’ll look to do the same tonight in New Jersey.
These same two teams met last week, with the Devils rallying for a 5-4 overtime win. As the Senators saw first hand that night, these aren’t the old New Jersey Devils. They have speed and skill throughout their line up and play a high-tempo style. With this much rest, you would expect that John Hynes’ team will come out flying on home ice.
Cory Schneider is still recovering from a lower-body injury which means the Senators will likely see Keith Kinkaid again. He stopped all 9 shots he faced in relief last week. They’ll be without Kyle Palmieri too.
No game day skate today so we won’t know the line up until later this afternoon. Jack Rodewald is expected to make his NHL debut though and there’s also a chance Zack Smith is ready to return. Not entirely clear what that means for the rest of the line up though and in particular, Chlapik, McCormick and DiDomenico. Going with a conventional 12/6 alignment might be a good idea, considering how much the Senators leaned on their top three forward lines last night.
We’ll find out later today what the Coach has in mind.
Dzingel-Brassard-Stone
Hoffman-Pageau-Pyatt
Burrows-Thompson-DiDomenico
Chlapik/McCormick-Smith-Rodewald
Oduya-Karlsson
Phaneuf-Ceci
Claesson-Wideman
Borowiecki
Mike Condon gets the start in the Ottawa goal. Puck drop is scheduled for just after 7:00 PM.
 |
 |
 |
|---|---|---|
| Record | 5-1-4 | 6-2-0 |
| Goals For | 3.60 (5th) | 3.75 (3rd) |
| Goals Against | 2.50 (6th) | 3.00 (T-13th) |
| Power Play | 18.2% (15th) | 22.9 (T-8th) |
| Penalty Kill | 92.6% (1st) | 78.6 (22nd) |
| Shots For/Shots Against | 32.9 (11th) 33.1 (19th) |
31.4 (T-17th) 34.98 (T-27th) |
| Blocked Shots | 186 (1st) | 107 (30th) |
| Leading Scorers | Stone- 10 pts Brassard- 10 pts Karlsson- 8 pts |
Hall- 9 pts Butcher- 9 pts Palmieri- 7 pts |
| Team Shooting % | 10.9% (8th) | 11.9% (3rd) |
