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Game 6 Preview: Dallas Stars @ Ottawa Senators

Ben Bishop, Jason Spezza, and Marc Methot battle it out for most beloved ex-Senator returning tonight

NHL: Dallas Stars at Ottawa Senators
This looks like good hockey right here
Marc DesRosiers-USA TODAY Sports

The Senators look to win back-to-back games for the first time this season tonight against the Dallas Stars. The Sens should have the rest battle, since they’ll be off after this game until Saturday, while Dallas flew from Dallas on Saturday, and then play again tomorrow night against the Devils before returning home. That seems like a weird, short road trip to me, but OK.

Mark Stone wasn’t at the morning skate, but Guy Boucher said he will play tonight. Here are the projected lines, via friend-of-the-blog Bruce Garrioch:

Boedker - Duchene - White
Tkachuk - Smith - Stone
Paajarvi - Tierney - Ryan
Pyatt - Carey

Chabot - DeMelo
Borowiecki - Harpur
Lajoie - Wideman
Jaros

Anderson (starter)
Condon

And because Brucey G was nice enough to give them to us, here’s the Stars’ lines:

Benn - Seguin - Radulov
Nichushkin - Spezza - Ritchie
Janmark - Shore - Comeau
Dickinson - Faksa - Pitlick

Lindell - Klingberg
Heiskanen - Carrick
Methot - Honka

Bishop (starter)
Khudobin

As always, some thoughts:

  • Who’s the most beloved ex-Senator returning tonight? With Patrick Eaves now a member of the Ducks, the choices are Ben Bishop, Jason Spezza, and Marc Methot. Methot was probably the most universally beloved in his time with the Sens, but Spezza was the most talented.
  • Speaking of which, will this be the last time Spezza plays in Ottawa? His contract’s up this year and his back has seen better days
  • Two of the four defencemen tied for the league lead in goals will be in action in this game, with Maxime Lajoie pitted against John Klingberg
  • Ben Harpur went from healthy scratch for four games to most ice time on the team (22:37) against the Kings. For what it’s worth, I thought he was passable against the Kings, with some good plays countering some awful time hemmed in his own zone. But I can’t for the life of me figure out why Boucher insists on keeping Thomas Chabot’s ice time down.
  • With seven defencemen again today, I wonder if Christian Jaros and Chris Wideman will each get half as much ice time as the other five? What does Boucher have against guys named Chris?
  • Dallas is clicking at over 50% on the powerplay, so maybe don’t take penalties?

  • Game starts at 7:30 EST with TV coverage on TSN5, RDS2, and FoxSports SW

Stats (via NaturalStatTrick.com and NHL.com):

Team Stats

Category Ottawa Senators Vegas Golden Knights
Category Ottawa Senators Vegas Golden Knights
-- Value Rank Value Rank
Goals/GP 3.56 7th 2.10 30th
Goals Against/GP 3.89 28th 2.60 8th
Shots/GP 28.7 26th 33.3 8th
Shots Against/GP 36.2 30th 24.3 2nd
Powerplay % 24.1 13th 9.4 30th
Penalty Kill % 67.7 29th 81.5 11th
Corsi (5v5, Score & Venue Adjusted) 43.07 29th 58.80 2nd
Fenwick (5v5, SVA) 43.92 29th 57.37 3rd

Player Stats

Ottawa Senators Dallas Stars
Ottawa Senators Dallas Stars
-- Player # Player #
Goals Maxime Lajoie 3 Radulov/Benn 4
Assists Thomas Chabot 6 Tyler Seguin 7
Points Thomas Chabot 8 Tyler Seguin 10
Shots Maxime Lajoie 15 Tyler Seguin 24
TOI/GP Ben Harpur 22:37 John Klingberg 25:37