Game 19 Preview: Ottawa Senators @ New York Rangers
The Sens head into the Big Apple hoping to come out victorious on the second half of a back-to-back
After not finishing on their chances last night, the Senators head into New York with a bitter taste in their mouth. The Rangers are second-last in their conference, but don’t let their record fool you; they still have 20 points on the year and have four lines that can hurt.
With Zack Smith and Chris Wideman still out due to injury, Guy Boucher played Ben Harpur yesterday afternoon to go 11-7. Tonight, he give Nick Paul a slot on the fourth line and run 11-6.
Dzingel - Brassard - Stone
Pyatt - Duchene - Ryan
Hoffman - Pageau - Burrows
Paul - Thompson - DiDomenico
Oduya - Karlsson
Phaneuf - Ceci
Claesson - Borowiecki
Anderson
Kreider - Zibanejad - Buchnevich
Grabner - Miller - Zuccarello
Nash - Hayes - Fast
Vesey - Nieves - Carey
McDonagh - Holden
Skjei - Shattenkirk
Staal - Smith
Lundqvist
Some notes for tonight:
- The Rangers were shutout on Friday against the Blue Jackets, adding fans to the “Fire Vigneault” flames
- Their lines look scary, but a majority of the offence has come from Kreider - Zibanejad - Buchnevich
- Kevin Shattenkirk has played 7 more games than Erik Karlsson, but is tied with 17 points.
- Boucher has decided to spread the wealth again on offence, when really, the Sens have been generating enough at 5-on-5 but just haven’t had the puck luck. Pyatt - Pageau - DiDomenico, a good third line, has been split up, with Pyatt moving up to play with Duchene and Hoffman moving down. Hope it doesn’t stay that way.
- Ditto for the Sens D pairings: sometimes, Phaneuf takes shifts on RD, and sometimes it’s Claesson/Borowiecki. Wideman’s injury and Harpur’s call-up still leaves the Sens with only two natural right-shot defenders/
Here are some stats for each team, with data coming from Natural Stat Trick and NHL.com:
Team Stats
| Category | Ottawa Senators | Senators | New York | Rangers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| -- | Value | Rank | Value | Rank |
| Goals/GP | 3.39 | 6th | 3.15 | 10th |
| Goals against/GP | 3.06 | 19th | 3.3 | 25th |
| Shots/GP | 31.6 | 16th | 32.6 | 11th |
| Shots against/GP | 29.9 | 6th | 32.6 | 18th |
| Corsi (5v5, Score and Venue adjusted) | 47.84 | 25th | 48.18 | 23rd |
| Fenwick (5v5, SVA) | 50.52 | 11th | 48.22 | 23rd |
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