Round 3, Game 2 preview: Ottawa Senators @ Pittsburgh Penguins
A preview of the game between the Ottawa Senators and the Pittsburgh Penguins on 15 May 2017.
The Ottawa Senators will look to seize complete control of their third round playoff series when they visit the Pittsburgh Penguins tonight. Having won game one in overtime, Ottawa can take a 2-0 lead back home with a win tonight. The manner in which Ottawa dominated game one, especially defensively, was very shocking to me. If the Senators can limit the Penguins for another game like that, you really have to like their chances.
The lineup will likely be the same for Ottawa, so here are the expected lines and pairings.
MacArthur - Turris - Hoffman
Stone - Pageau - Ryan
Burrows - Brassard - Dzingel
Smith - Pyatt - Wingels
Methot - Karlsson
Phaneuf - Ceci
Claesson - Wideman
Anderson (starter)
Condon
Some notes for tonight:
- Teams with a 2-0 lead in the NHL playoffs have won 86% of NHL best-of-seven series.
- Saturday was the first time the Senators won a playoff game this season without an Erik Karlsson point. They were 0-3 previously.
- Ottawa has now won six games in overtime in these playoffs. Before this season, they had only won seven games or more in total three times in the playoffs.
- After recording just 25 points in 62 games during the regular season, Bobby Ryan has 11 in 13 during the playoffs.
- The Penguins have now lost three of their last four games in the playoffs as well as three of the last four at home.
- Pittsburgh has been outshot by an incredible 7.5 shots per game during the playoffs.
- Jean-Gabriel Pageau is tied for third in the playoffs with eight goals. Jake Guentzel of Pittsburgh is tied with our friend Jakob Silfverberg with nine goals.
- Kyle Turris has won 56% of his face-offs during the playoffs.
- A win tonight will guarantee at least three more home games for Eugene Melnyk!
- I still cannot believe how inept Pittsburgh looked offensively on Saturday. It was a true masterclass defensively. If they can cut down the penalties.../
Here are some stats for the two teams tonight. All stats are from NHL.com except Corsi and Fenwick are from Corsica.
| Category | Ottawa | Pittsburgh | ||
| Player | # | Player | # | |
| Goals | Jean-Gabriel Pageau | 8 | Jake Guentzel | 9 |
| Assists | Erik Karlsson | 11 | Evgeni Malkin | 13 |
| Points | Erik Karlsson | 13 | Evgeni Malkin | 19 |
| Shots | Derick Brassard | 37 | Phil Kessel | 41 |
| Average Ice time | Erik Karlsson | 29:04 | Justin Schultz | 21:09 |
Category | Ottawa | Pittsburgh | ||
| # | Rank | # | Rank | |
| Goals For | 2.77 | 5th | 3.23 | 1st |
| Goals Against | 2.62 | 9th | 2.54 | 8th |
| Zone, score and venue adjusted Corsi % | 51.91% | 6th | 43.79% | 16th |
| Score, Zone and venue adjusted Fenwick % | 51.44% | 6th | 44.26% | 16th |
| Shots For | 31.7 | 9th | 27.7 | 14th |
| Shots Against | 31.4 | 10th | 35.2 | 15th |
