Thursday night was a familiar scene for the Ottawa Senators: play well but ultimately come out with less than two points. There are good things to build on, but it has been disappointing seeing them fail to capitalize on any sort of momentum in the form of a winning streak. The great thing about a winning streak is that it can theoretically begin at any moment.

The Senators are playing the Nashville Predators for an early 1:30 EST start as they conclude their short two-game road trip. About an hour before the game, the lines have not been announced but they might look like this based on past information:

Tkachuk-Stützle-Giroux

DeBrincat-Pinto-Batherson

Motte-Gambrell-Kelly

Brassard-Kastelic-Watson

Chabot-Zaitsev

Sanderson-Hamonic

Brännström-Holden

Game Notes:

• The Senators are just 4-6-2 on the road and this is an afternoon game—not exactly a time when they’ve played their best hockey over the years.
• However, the good news is that the Predators have not been a good team overall this season. As you can see from the rankings below, Nashville ranks quite poorly or at least below average in every facet. Strip out their records, and Ottawa looks like a much better team. Nashville is still a difficult place to play as an opponent though, so this isn’t going to be an easy game.
• On the other hand, the Predators are 7-2-1 over their past 10 games, so despite the poor metrics, this might be the worst time to be running into them—what lovely luck!
• Mathieu Joseph is out 2-3 weeks, which hurts their already thin depth in the bottom-six. Parker Kelly will play in place of him, although the lines were not made clear yet.
• Thomas Chabot has been on a tear in his seven games since coming from his concussion as he looks like his old self again. Including the game before his concussion, he has four goals and six assists over those eight games—the Senators have a 5-2-1 record in that span. He also has four powerplay goals, which is crazy considering he had just three career powerplay goals coming into this season. I think he’s back.
• Remember Matt Duchene being an Ottawa Senator? Wild times.
• This is the second of two games where the Senators dads will be in attendance, and it would be fantastic to have them see a win. It was very wholesome to see them all cheering together:/

The Dad's are showing out in Dallas tonight! ❤️🤍🖤#GoSensGo pic.twitter.com/Tryy6W2GVu

— Ottawa Senators (@Senators) December 9, 2022

• Today’s starting goaltender has not been announced and let’s just say that no matter who it will be, I have no idea what to expect from game-to-game. Anton Forsberg looked horrendous and amazing all in the same game on Thursday./

Player Stats

Team Stats

You can catch the game at 1:30 EST on TSN5 and TVAS.