Game 43 Preview + Open Thread: Penguins @ Senators
The incredibly busy week for the Ottawa Senators continues tonight as they host the Pittsburgh Penguins.
The Pittsburgh Penguins and Ottawa Senators will meet for the third time this season tonight, with each team claiming a victory. The two teams have average 9.5 goals per game in their two meetings, as Ottawa beat Pittsburgh 6-3 on November 13th while Pittsburgh took two points on January 20th in a 6-4 win.
For the Senators, they’ll be playing their third game in four days since the All Star Break concluded this past weekend. Both clubs have been playing strong hockey as of late, as the Pens come into this one with a 6-1-3 record in their last ten compared to Ottawa’s 5-3-2 record in the same span.
According to morning skate, the lines look unchanged from Ottawa’s 4-3 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday. As expected, the Sens are expected to start Matt Murray tonight against his former team.
Morning skate .
— TSN 1200 (@TSN1200) February 10, 2022
Tkachuk-Stützle- Gaudette
Formenton-Paul- CBrown
Sanford
-Gambrell-Watson
Tierney
-Kastelic-Ennis
Chabot-Zaitsev
Holden-Zub
Brannstrom-JBrown
Murray - starts
Forsberg
Game Notes
- Matt Murray gets the start tonight against his former friends, now enemies. The Sens are 5-0-2 in Murray’s last seven starts. The goaltender has looked like a brand new player for Ottawa since the calendar turned to 2022 and the Sens will need him to continue that strong play tonight against a very good Pittsburgh Penguins squad.
- Brady Tkachuk finally broke his goalless streak with a pair against Carolina on Tuesday and he has give points in his last five games. With Drake Batherson and Josh Norris still out, the captain will need to continue this production to help his team bring home another two points.
- The new look second line has been on fire since Connor Brown returned from injury with Brown (1G, 2A), Alex Formenton (1G, 1A) and Nick Paul (1G, 2A) all contributing multiple points each in their two games together this week.
- Sidney Crosby currently sits at 499 goals. Earlier this season, Alex Ovechkin scored his 500th against the Senators so one can only expect.../
Team Stats
| Game 75 | Ottawa | Senators | Seattle | Kraken |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Category | # | Rank | # | Rank |
| Goals/GP | 2.71 | 26th | 2.57 | 29th |
| Goals Against/GP | 3.23 | 23rd | 3.47 | 24th |
| Shots/GP | 30.3 | 20th | 28.8 | 31st |
| Shots Against/GP | 33.2 | 25th | 29.1 | 5th |
| Powerplay % | 19.7 | 21st | 14.3 | 29th |
| Penalty Kill % | 80.5 | 13th | 75.1 | 26th |
| Corsi % (5v5 SVA) | 47.91 | 21st | 49.03 | 19th |
| xGF % (5v5 SVA) | 47.10 | 24th | 47.34 | 23rd |
Player Stats
| Game 75 | Ottawa | Senators | Seattle | Kraken |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Category | Player | # | Player | # |
| Goals | Josh Norris | 33 | Jared McCann | 25 |
| Assists | Tim Stützle | 32 | Yanni Gourde | 26 |
| Points | Brady Tkachuk | 59 | Jared McCann, Yanni Gourde (tied) | 43 |
| Shots | Brady Tkachuk | 261 | Jared McCann | 174 |
| Time on Ice/GP | Thomas Chabot (inj.) | 26:23 | Adam Larsson | 22:10 |