Game 60 Preview: Detroit Red Wings @ Ottawa Senators

Previewing the Wings-Sens game on February 20th.

The Senators are now on a two-game win streak, looking to make it three in a row against a decent Red Wings team. Craig Anderson will get his third-straight start. Mark Borowiecki is back from injury, meaning Chris Wideman will sit. Here are the lines and pairings, according to Bruce Garrioch:

Hoffman - Turris - Stone
Dzingel - Zibanejad - Ryan
Smith - Pageau - Neil
Paul - Lazar - Chiasson

Methot - Karlsson
Phaneuf - Ceci
Wiercioch - Borowiecki

Anderson (starter)
Hammond

For the Wings, Larkin is a game-time decision with an illness. If he plays, this is NHL.com's prediction of the Red Wings' lineup:

Zetterberg - Datsyuk - Abdelkader
Larkin - Richards - Tatar
Nyquist - Athanasiou - Jurco
Sheahan - Glendening - Helm

Quincey - DeKeyser
Smith - Green
Ouellet - Marchenko

Mrazek (starter)
Howard

Some notes for tonight:

  • Karlsson's two points last game leave him tied with Tyler Seguin for third in the league with 65 points, one behind Jamie Benn. This is going to be a dog fight til the end. Importantly, Karlsson is seven points up on fourth-place Evgeny Kuznetsov.
  • The last defenceman to finish top-ten in scoring was Karlsson in 2011-12. The last time a defenceman finished top-five in points was 1985-86, when Paul Coffey finished third.
  • Karlsson has played over 30 minutes six games in a row now.
  • Nick Paul got his first NHL point last game, which means he'll probably be in the lineup for another five games or so.
  • It's amazing we think Alex Chiasson had a good game against the Hurricanes when he seemed to slip and fall every other time he gained the offensive zone. I guess it's all about progress.
  • Here's hoping he's being played for a trade showcase, because I don't like seeing him get in the roster over players who are better now with much higher ceilings like Prince and Puempel
  • Dave Cameron said Mark Borowiecki is exactly how he wants his team to play. That can't be good, right? Regardless of your feelings on Boro, I'm sure we can all agree we don't want Karlsson playing the same way
  • Beata Elliott has an excellent FanPost looking at how the Sens seem to have no system in their own end.
  • The Sens moved out of last place in the league in goals allowed per game with Thursday's win combined with some awful Blue Jackets games
  • Wings fans have to be happy with the development of Dylan Larkin. How do the Wings manage to draft an unexpected superstar once a decade to keep the team going? At least he was a first-round pick.
  • Micah McCurdy (via Hockey Viz) gives the Sens a 3% chance at making the playoffs

Here are some stats for the two teams tonight. All stats are from NHL.com except Corsi and Fenwick are from www.puckon.net. Note that Corsi is now adjusted for score as well as the venue and event type.

Category Ottawa Detroit
Player # Player #
Goals Mike Hoffman 24 Dylan Larkin
19
Assists Erik Karlsson 54
Henrik Zetterberg
29
Points Erik Karlsson 65 Henrik Zetterberg
41
Shots Erik Karlsson 178 Dylan Larkin
157
Average Ice time Erik Karlsson 29:05 Niklas Kronwall
22:45

Category Ottawa Detroit
# Rank # Rank
Goals For 2.78 8th 2.55 20th
Goals Against 3.05 29th 2.57 13th
Event, Score and venue adjusted Corsi % 47.2% 24th 52.2% 6th
Event, Score and venue adjusted Fenwick % 46.7% 25th 50.8% 14th
Shots For 28.3 26th 29.2 19th
Shots Against 33.1 30th 29.8 15th

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