Game 15 Preview: New Jersey Devils @ Ottawa Senators

Quite an eventful 24 hours leading up to the game will have everyone curious how the team will react to the recent video drama they found themselves in. After stealing a point against the mighty Tampa Bay Lightning, the Sens would like nothing more than to build on that with a good game against a tired New Jersey Devils team.

The Sens have lost 6 out of their last 7 games and most in ugly fashion. They will need to dig deep tonight and find a way to stay focused all 3 periods and beat an equally struggling team that is coming off a solid 5-1 win against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Boucher is electing to go 12-6 tonight with our hero Craig Anderson starting in net and Jack Rodewald making his debut for the Ottawa Senators.

Projected Lineups:

The New Jersey Devils played last night but will be looking to continue their victorious momentum:

Game Notes

• The Devils are 4-5-1 in their last 10 games and are tied in points with the Ottawa Senators. They will be looking to capitalize on a fragile Sens team to get a winning streak going and take advantage of their games in hand to get back into the race.
• The Devils are 4-2-0 at the Canadian Tire Centre and 7-5-0 against the Senators since the 2014-2015 season but their road record this season of 1-4-0 boasts well for the Sens chances alongside the fact that the Devils played last night.
• Brian Boyle scored a hat trick against the Penguins last night, it was a nice celebration of his cancer remission announcement in a month all about cancer awareness within the hockey community.
• Taylor Hall has 14 points in in his past 11 games and I don’t expect him to be slowing down against the Ottawa Senators.
• Craig Anderson is starting in net again and will be without a doubt called upon to stay focused with talents like Nico Hischier and Taylor Hall storming at him.
• The Sens “laughable” PK of 68.8% will be tested today against the Devil’s 27.5% PP (6th in the league) and on the other side, the Devils’s PK is good for 11th in the league at 81.3% success rate.
• Just for the sake of a feel good performance, I’ll be looking for the Sens to have a perfect PK % tonight and a few extra PP goals wouldn’t hurt wither.
• Keep an eye out for Jack Rodewald proving his spot on the team with a good first game, here’s hoping for a first NHL goal tonight.
• Mark Stone looks to continue his point streak currently at 3 games, he has 5 assists in those past 3 games.
• The Sens really need a good start to the game to capitalize early on potential Devils fatigue but they also need a solid third as the final period has been their achilles heels the past few games. Whether they have a lead or not going into the third, they need to avoid sitting back or taking dumb penalties as much as possible.

More Details

Time: 7:30PM

Location: Candian Tire Centre, Kanata

Broadcast: TSN5, RDS2, MSG+, NHLTV and of course our beloved TEAM1200