Game 17 Preview: Ottawa Senators vs. Calgary Flames

The Senators roll into Calgary tonight to face the Flames on the final leg of their annual Western Canadian roadtrip. After playing their best period of the season against Edmonton on Thursday night, the Senators proceeded to get absolutely caved in the second and third period before escaping with an overtime win thanks to Mike Hoffman's second goal of the evening. It wasn't pretty, but it's hard to argue with three points out of a possible four in the first two games of the trip.

There will again be no changes to the lineup for Ottawa. As they were last game:

Ottawa

MacArthur - Turris - Chiasson
Michalek - Zibanejad - Ryan
Smith - Legwand - Neil
Hoffman - Lazar - Stone

Phillips - Karlsson
Cowen - Ceci
Borowiecki - Gryba

Anderson (starter)
Lehner

Some notes for tonight:

• The consistent goalie rotation that marked the early part of the year seems to have gone by the wayside; Craig Anderson is set to start his fourth consecutive game
• Though their record may be deceiving (I'll get to that in a minute), Calgary does boast one of the best pairings in the NHL in Mark Giordano and TJ Brodie.
• How good are Giordano and Brodie together? They play the toughest ice on the team, barely breaking 40% O-zone starts, but have the highest CF% on the team among defensemen. When they're on the ice, Calgary get close to a 50-50 split in shot attempts; when they're off the ice, though, the Flames look like the Buffalo Sabres.
• Calgary's sporting one of the best records in the NHL, but it's been largely achieved on the back of fantastic goalie play and some hot shooting. People like to mock the Edmonton Oilers, but I think Calgary's the weaker sister of the provincial rivals. If Ottawa fancies itself a play-off team, they should roll the Flames.
• Mike Hoffman is en fuego, but don't think for a second that it's a fluke: the Hoff is 3rd in the entire NHL in shot attempt rate among players with at least 100 mins of 5v5 ice time.

Stats:

Enjoy the game!