Game 25 preview: Florida Panthers @ Ottawa Senators

Preview of the game between the Ottawa Senators and the Florida Panthers on December 3, 2016.

After losing a 2-0 lead to the Flyers on their way to dropping the game in overtime on Thursday, the Ottawa Senators close out a three-game homestand hosting the Florida Panthers on Saturday night. Two weeks ago when the teams last met, Florida came out on top with a 4-1 despite Ottawa outshooting them 40-23.

The Senators made some roster changes on Friday, sending Max McCormick back to Binghamton and calling up Buddy Robinson in his place. With Methot slated to miss tonight's game due to injury, the Sens also called up their 2014 second round pick Andreas Englund, who will make his NHL debut tonight.

With Craig Anderson away from the team for personal reasons, Mike Condon (2-1-1) will again get the start in search of his third win of the season. Roberto Luongo is expected to start for the Panthers.

It was only an optional skate this morning, so we don't know exactly what the lines will look like with the new call-ups. Coach Boucher said that Englund will play "with everybody", so I would not expect the defensive pairings to stay consistent throughout the game.

Hoffman - Brassard - Stone
Dzingel - Turris - Lazar
Smith - Pageau - Pyatt
Robinson - Kelly - Neil

Englund - Karlsson
Phaneuf - Ceci
Borowiecki - Wideman

Condon (starter)
Hammond

Some notes for tonight:

  • The key to tonight's game is getting on the board early, the Senators are 5-1-1 when scoring first this season. When they give up the first goal, they are 9-7-1.
  • Chris Neil and Erik Karlsson are tied for the most career goals against the Panthers with eight apiece.
  • Mike Hoffman's goal on Thursday moved him into a tie with Zack Smith for 20th in all-time Senators history. Hoffman is also on a three-game point streak with six points over that stretch.
  • Andreas Englund will wear number 39 for his NHL debut, following in the footsteps of Matt Carkner, Dominik Hasek, Jason Spezza, Josh Langfeld, and Joe Juneau.
  • When the Sens are leading or tied after two periods, they have a record of 11-1-1. On the other side, the Panthers have a record of 11-4-0 when leading or tied after two periods.
  • Kyle Turris has five goals and 11 assists through 20 career games against the Panthers, his third-best point total against a single team.
  • With a Roberto Luongo start tonight, he will tie Curtis Joseph for the fifth-most games played as a goaltender in NHL history.

Here are some stats for the two teams tonight from NHL.com

Category Ottawa Florida
Player # Player #
Goals Kyle Turris 10 Jonathan Marchessault 4
Assists Erik Karlsson 15 Aleksander Barkov 7
Points Erik Karlsson 19 Jonathan Marchessault 19
Shots Mike Hoffman 74 Aaron Ekblad 25
Average Ice time Erik Karlsson 27:14 Aaron Ekblad 23:20

Category Ottawa Florida
# Rank # Rank
Goals For 2.25 27th 2.42 20th
Goals Against 2.46 8th 2.46 9th
Shots For 31.1 20th 30.6 9th
Shots Against 29.8 18th 29.6 12th

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