Game 21 Preview + Open Thread: Ottawa Senators @ Carolina Hurricanes
Sens face another battle against top team
- The Ottawa Senators may have officially reached rock bottom after losing to the Vancouver Canucks last night. Tonight, they face a much harder opponent in the Carolina Hurricanes and it will be interesting to see how the Sens respond after the embarrassing showing last night./
It seems sending Matt Murray to Belleville hasn’t helped the goalie situation in Ottawa. It appears the issue was maybe defense all along but who would have known? Either way, as expected with a back to back, Anton Forsberg will be starting in net tonight.
DJ Smith seems to be reverting back to Stützle on centre and it would be nice to see him in that position for a longer period of time and see how he would adjust. Newcomer Adam Gaudette scored his first goal last night and hopefully he goes on some sort of run.
According to DJ Smith, lineup stays the same as last night with Tyler Ennis coming back into the lineup - the decision on who he’s replacing is still to be determined. As mentioned above, Anton Forsberg will be in net.
The big questions:
- Will the Sens ever win again?
- Seriously, will they?
- Will we ever hear anything from Pierre Dorion or Pierre “Media Mastermind” McGuire?
- Will Drake Batherson continue his point-per-game pace?
- Would there be anything more Sens than beating one of the best teams in the league after falling to three of the worst back-to-back-to-back?/
Game details for tonight:
In Raleigh tonight!
— Ottawa Senators (@Senators) December 2, 2021
🆚 @Canes
📍 PNC Arena
🕖 7pm
📺 TSN5/RDS2
📻 TSN1200/Unique FM 94,5#GoSensGo pic.twitter.com/ZKuunTCFpB
Stats Preview
Team Stats
| Game 26 | Ottawa | Senators | Florida | Panthers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Category | # | Rank | # | Rank |
| Goals/GP | 2.64 | 26th | 3.7 | 2nd |
| Goals Against/GP | 3.72 | 32nd | 2.7 | 12th |
| Shots/GP | 28.4 | 29th | 36.1 | 1st |
| Shots Against/GP | 34.1 | 30th | 30.6 | 11th |
| Powerplay % | 19.10% | 15th | 18.80% | 17th |
| Penalty Kill % | 75.30% | 27th | 81.00% | 16th |
| Corsi % (5v5 SVA) | 44.81% | 31st | 57.13% | 1st |
| xGF % (5v5 SVA) | 45.20% | 31st | 56.26% | 1st |
Player Stats
| Game 26 | Ottawa | Senators | Florida | Panthers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Category | Player | # | Player | # |
| Goals | Josh Norris | 12 | Aleksander Barkov | 10 |
| Assists | Drake Batherson | 16 | Jonathan Huberdeau | 22 |
| Points | Drake Batherson | 24 | Jonathan Huberdeau | 31 |
| Shots | Brady Tkachuk | 72 | Aaron Ekblad | 90 |
| Time on Ice/GP | Thomas Chabot | 27:09 | Aaron Ekblad | 25:39 |