Game 6 preview: Ottawa Senators @ Vancouver Canucks

After starting the season with four out of five games at home, the Ottawa Senators will head to the Canadian west for a three-game road trip starting with tonight's game in Vancouver. The Senators lost 4-1 to Tampa Bay on Saturday and are 3-2-0 for the season. The Canucks started the season at 4-0-0 before losing their last two games, one in regulation and one in a shootout.

The Senators shook up the lines in practice yesterday after struggling against Tampa Bay. Here are how they are expected to line up:

Smith - Pageau - Stone
Hoffman - Turris - Pyatt
Dzingel - Brassard - Ryan
Puempel - Kelly - Neil

Methot - Karlsson
Phaneuf - Ceci
Borowiecki - Wideman

Anderson (starter)
Hammond

Some notes for tonight:

• Ottawa has allowed four goals a game on average through the first five games. Thankfully they have also managed to score 3.4 goals per game on average.
• Obviously you will score more when you win than you lose, but in the three wins Ottawa has 15 goals and in the two losses they have two goals.
• There is no shame in being dominated by Tampa Bay (well once you get past the settling for mediocrity). But games against the likes of Vancouver have to be won more often than they are lost, despite the Canucks record.
• The Senators lead the NHL with 34 shots per game. Their 2.4 goals per game at 5-on-5 are also the fifth highest in the NHL.
• Dion Phaneuf and Cody Ceci have been an absolute disaster as a pairing so far. If they can't improve, this team is going to have a long year.
• Mike Hoffman has 23 shots on goal now this season, but he is still looking for his first goal.
• After four points in the first five games, Ryan Dzingel is going to get the chance to play with Derick Brassard and Bobby Ryan.
• Craig Anderson has an 88.6 save percentage this season. That is not very good.
• The Canucks and their opponents have combined for 53.0 shots on goal per game on average. The Senators and their opponents have combined for 65.4. There is certainly a lot more going in Ottawa games for better or worse.
• This also translates into goals witn Sens games having 7.4 goals per game on average and Canucks games having 4.5 goals a game on average./

Here are some stats for the two teams tonight. All stats are from NHL.com except Corsi and Fenwick are from www.puckon.net.