Game 50 Preview: Arizona Coyotes at Ottawa Senators

It’s back to the CTC with the Senators, for one last game before the All-Star Weekend and then the seasonal five day break.

Guy Boucher has announced he’ll be going with 11-7 again tonight. Mark Borowiecki is expected to be back in, with the identity of who gets labelled as the 8th D not yet known, but it’s been Lajoie and Harpur rotating in lately. Up front, it’s Nick Paul going back in the lineup and Rudolfs Balcers going to the press box.

Lines? We don’t need no stinking lines!

Okay - we weren’t given any lines today, stinking or otherwise. Best guess is that they’re similar to Friday, with the question mark on who sits for the D.

Game Notes

• The Coyotes have been lacking the scoring touch, shooting only 6.65% at 5 on 5 so far this season. You might think that makes them a prime candidate to adjust upwards... until you see that their average for the previous five seasons is only 7%
• The good thing about the extended break means that Colin White should be ready to go for the next game in a week and a half
• With that break coming, expect a few players to be reassigned to Belleville tonight or tomorrow. Tkachuk, Balcers, Jaros, Lajoie, Chabot and Wolanin are all waiver-exempt. Chabot is busy obviously, but if I had to guess on the others I’d say Lajoie and Tkachuk get the time off and the rest get to ride the bus again for a bit
• We’re now inside five weeks from the trade deadline. Tick tock.
• If you’re wondering why most of these notes aren’t actually about tonight’s game, I guess there’s a reason “Arizona on a Tuesday” is used as the stereotypical low-interest game
• The league continues to be a log-jam at the bottom. Sens could end the night anywhere from 26th to 31st./

Here are some stats, courtesy of NHL.com and Natural Stat Trick.

Team Stats

Player Stats