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Game 33 Preview: Ottawa Senators @ Tampa Bay Lightning

The Sens look to bounce back against the top team in the league

NHL: Ottawa Senators at Tampa Bay Lightning Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

Dion Phaneuf is unavailable due to personal reasons, so Ben Harpur draws in with Andreas Englund called up to be the spare D. Zack Smith is a game time decision, with Filip Chlapik on standby. Chlapik wouldn’t just slide in to Smith’s spot, he’d be the 4C with Thompson or Burrows moving up to 3LW. Here are the potential lines and pairings if Smith is good to go:

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

Oduya - Karlsson
Harpur - Ceci
Claesson - Chabot

Anderson (starter)
Condon

Some thoughts:

  • Tampa is at the top of the league for a reason - this one has the potential to get ugly, fast.
  • This is their first game back in Tampa after a 4 game road trip and against the 29th place team so the potential for this to be a “trap game” for them is there.
  • The power play looked pretty good against Minnesota, with two PP goals and a third coming shortly after one ended.
  • This is Anderson’s fourth start in a row. The last one was a stinker, but he did do well in the previous two.
  • If Chlapik plays, it will be on the fourth line. I’d bet a line of Paul-Chlapik-Thompson/Burrows doesn’t get much ice time.
  • At this point, the Sens probably need to get two out of every three points still on the board to make the playoffs, give or take a point or two on the final total. Only Nashville, Vegas and Tampa have that point% so far this season.
  • For the sake of comparison, the Hamburglar run brought in five out of every six possible points so we’re not quite at that level of miracle run just yet
  • On the flip side, we’re almost at the World Juniors - prime draft class watching time. Time to get a good look at Rasmus Dahlin?

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