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Game 32 Preview: Minnesota Wild @ Ottawa Senators

The Sens look to build some momentum heading into Christmas

NHL: Ottawa Senators at Minnesota Wild Marilyn Indahl-USA TODAY Sports

The Senators have three more games, including tonight’s, ahead of Christmas, and after a month of misery, they look to build a three-game win streak. The Wild have lost two in a row and are in the middle of a four-game road trip.

Tonight’s game will see Nick Paul come in for the injured (and also invisible) Gabriel Dumont. Ben Harpur was called up but should be scratched unless there’s a last-minute injury. Craig Anderson gets his second start in as many games. Here are the practice lines and pairings:

Ryan - Duchene - Stone
Smith - Pageau - Pyatt
Hoffman - Brassard - Dzingel
Dumont - Thompson - Burrows

Oduya - Karlsson
Phaneuf - Ceci
Claesson - Chabot

Anderson (starter)
Condon

Some thoughts:

  • Since Erik Karlsson played 28:03 at even strength last game, he got to play with many D partners. He was with Johnny Oduya for 15:33, Fredrik Claesson for 5:19, Dion Phaneuf for 4:07, Thomas Chabot for 2:34, and even Cody Ceci for 0:42 (all times at even strength) — all stats via NaturalStatTrick.com
  • Interestingly, Karlsson played 8-9 minutes with the Smith-Pageau-Pyatt line. Maybe Boucher has realized Karlsson is his team’s best shutdown defenceman by far (and the Sens really shut down the Canadiens)
  • Jean-Gabriel Pageau had the most even-strength ice time of any forward last game at 15:07. Likely having three powerplays and just one penalty kill affects this. Mark Stone played a total of 20:06, and Matt Duchene played 18:27 when you switch to all situations
  • Will Gabriel Dumont draw back in when he’s healthy? I know nothing about the guy, but for some reason he’s become an untouchable, invisible fourth-liner. I hear all your arguments about Dumont playing junior for Boucher, and I point out Chris DiDomenico was also a Boucher signing and we all know what happened to him
  • It was cool to see Stone out at the end of last game protecting the lead. He’s Ottawa’s best puck-handling forward, and his hand-eye was directly responsible for the empty net sealing goal.
  • I’m cautiously hopeful for a win. That hasn’t happened in three or four weeks now.

Stats for tonight’s game (thanks to NHL.com and NaturalStatTrick.com):

Team Stats

Category Ottawa Senators Boston Bruins
Category Ottawa Senators Boston Bruins
-- Value Rank Value Rank
Goals/GP 2.68 25th 3.25 6th
Goals against/GP 3.44 30th 2.56 3rd
Shots/GP 30.7 24th 32.8 11th
Shots against/GP 33.0 25th 29.3 2nd
Powerplay % 16.7 26th 23.5 4th
Penalty Kill % 76.2 27th 83.3 4th
Corsi (5v5, Score & Venue Adjusted) 46.32 29th 53.97 2nd
Fenwick (5v5, SVA) 46.94 27th 54.01 1st

Player Stats

Ottawa Senators Boston Bruins
Ottawa Senators Boston Bruins
-- Player # Player #
Goals Matt Duchene 27 Brad Marchand 34
Assists Erik Karlsson (out) 53 Brad Marchand 51
Points Karlsson/Stone (both out) 62 Brad Marchand 85
Shots Mike Hoffman 253 David Pastrnak 236
TOI/GP Erik Karlsson (out) 26:44 Zdeno Chara 22:53