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Game 10 Preview and Open Thread: Ottawa Senators versus Vegas Golden Knights

One of these teams has played slightly better than the other of late

Ottawa Senators v Vegas Golden Knights Photo by Jeff Bottari/NHLI via Getty Images

Game Notes

  • Ottawa Senators Injuries: Josh Norris, Artem Zub, Cam Talbot
  • Golden Knights Injuries: Robin Lehner, Nolan Patrick, Laurent Brossoit
  • On the surface this game might seem like a bit of a mismatch but Ottawa can hang with Vegas in terms of special teams and five-on-five offence. Vegas really separates themselves when it comes to five-on-five defence though and that lends itself to otherworldly five-on-five goaltending. Instead of blurbing out these comparisons, I decided to make a handy table this time around:

Expected and Actual Goals

Team 5V5 xGF/60 5V5 Sh% 5V5 xGA/60 5V5 Sv% PP xGF/60 PP Sh% PK xGA/60 PK Sv%
Team 5V5 xGF/60 5V5 Sh% 5V5 xGA/60 5V5 Sv% PP xGF/60 PP Sh% PK xGA/60 PK Sv%
Ottawa 2.83 10.53 2.73 91.93 7.34 18.42 7.63 86.21
Vegas 3.16 7.59 2.15 94.76 6.38 15.56 7.08 84.62
  • Not that Ottawa can control the officiating, but time spent in the penalty box has become a serious issue and has had a direct impact on Ottawa’s success (or lack thereof) recently. They’ll have to clean it up to limit time spent shorthanded as the refs don’t seem inclined towards leniency for the Senators lately. Vegas, as it turns out, take very few penalties.
  • All of Vegas’ lines can play superb defence but the goals come from Eichel who has historically feasted in Ottawa so maybe keep an eye on him.
  • Much like I said with the Panthers, the Knights have actually underperformed their expected goals to date so that seems foreboding. On the other hand, Vegas can’t possibly keep this level of goaltending going forever, can they? You could also argue that Ottawa can’t sustain its shooting percentage much longer so let’s hope they generate a bit more volume tonight.

Where to watch/listen: RDS2, TSN5, TSN1200 @7PM EST

Lines from Last Game

Ottawa

Tkachuk - Stützle - Batherson
DeBrincat - Pinto - Giroux
Motte - Kastelic - Joseph
Kelly - Gambrell - Watson

Chabot - Brännström
Sanderson - Hamonic
Holden - Zaitsev

Vegas

Eichel - Stephenson - Stone
Marchessault - Karlsson - Smith
Amadio - Howden - Kessel
Carrier - Roy - Kolesar

Martinez - Pietrangelo
Theodore - McNabb
Hague - Whitecloud

Stats

Player

Game 10 Ottawa Senators Vegas Golden Knights
Game 10 Ottawa Senators Vegas Golden Knights
Category Player # Player #
Goals Tkachuk/Pinto 6 Jack Eichel 5
Assists Drake Batherson 8 Alex Pietrangelo 7
Points Brady Tkachuk 12 Jack Eichel 12
Shots Alex DeBrincat 40 Jack Eichel 37
TOI Thomas Chabot 25:40 Alex Pietrangelo 23:30

Team

Game 10 Ottawa Senators Vegas Golden Knights
Game 10 Ottawa Senators Vegas Golden Knights
Category Rank # Rank #
Goals 4th 3.67 15th 3.15
Goals against 21st 3.44 1st 1.71
Shots 18th 30.3 11th 33.4
Shots against 27th 34.6 7th 28.0
Powerplay 14th 23.3% 20th 20.6%
Penalty Kill 20th 78.4% 21st 76.0%
Corsi (5V5SVA) 17th 50.6% 11th 52.0%
xGoals (5V5SVA) 13th 51.1% 4th 60.6%