Game 2 Hub: Rangers @ Senators
Your Preview and Open Thread for Game 2 of the season
While the season didn’t start with the glorious win that we had hoped for, it was a fun game nonetheless. Tonight, the home opener brings on new adventures and hopefully the team’s first win of the season. The New York Rangers are in town and pack with them the punch of Mika Zibanejad and Artemi Panarin which the Sens will have to find a way to neutralize.
According to Team 1200, Craig Anderson will be the starter which makes sense since he has had a good record against the Rangers. While he didn’t have a stellar game against the Leafs, very few can blame him with the amount of good chances and shots Auston Matthews and the rest of the team were allowed. A few interesting roster changes most notable is the promotion of Bobby Ryan to the first line and Sabourin taking a third line spot while Batherson figures out his way on the fourth line.
Duclair - Pageau - Brown
Ennis - Tierney - Sabourin
Boedker - Anisimov - Batherson
Chabot - Zaitsev
Brannstrom - Hainsey
Borowiecki - DeMelo
Goloubef
Anderson (starter)
Nilsson
(Chlapik and Goloubef are the scratches.)
Details
Start: 7:00 PM EST
TV: City, MSG
Radio: TSN1200
Thoughts
- The New York Rangers will aim to win two games in a row to start their season for the first time in 4 years, so they have some motivation coming in to this game.
- Brady Tkachuk will be playing against the Rangers’ top centre Zibanejad, and it should be a fun matchup between two very talented power forwards.
- The Senators are expected to retire Chris Phillips’ jersey tonight in a move that some fans see as unnecessary. While Phillips may have not been the flashy defenseman that most team covet, he’s had a tremendous impact on the team on and off the ice. As one of the very few players to have played out his career in Ottawa, I’m fine with this decision.
- Drake Batherson needs to step up his game really soon, he seems like he has lost an edge and I’m not sure putting him on the fourth line will help but let’s hope it eases some pressure off him so he can start coming back to his form.
- I’m sensing a win here and a big game from Anthony Duclair and Drake Batherson./
Stats (Compared to 29 teams with at least one game)
All stats from NHL.com, except Corsi/Fenwick from NaturalStatTrick.com
Player Stats
| Ottawa | Senators | Vegas | Golden Knights | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Category | Player | # | Player | # |
| Goals | Brady Tkachuk/Vladislav Namestnikov | 2 | Mark Stone/Reilly Smith | 5 |
| Assists | Jean-Gabriel Pageau/Connor Brown | 3 | William Karlsson | 7 |
| Points | Jean-Gabriel Pageau/Vladislav Namestnikov | 4 | Mark Stone | 10 |
| Shots | Brady Tkachuk/Anthony Duclair | 17 | Max Pacioretty | 28 |
| Time On Ice | Thomas Chabot | 26:00 | Shea Theodore | 21:44 |
Team Stats
| Ottawa | Senators | Vegas | Golden Knights | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | Rank | # | Rank | |
| Goals/GP | 2.40 | 25th | 3.71 | 7th |
| Goals against/GP | 3.80 | 26th | 2.71 | 10th |
| Shots/GP | 29.4 | 23rd | 33.9 | 8th |
| Shots against/GP | 33.0 | 23rd | 33.3 | 25th |
| Powerplay % | 0.0 | 31st | 29.2 | 7th |
| Penalty Kill % | 81.8 | 15th | 92.6 | 2nd |
| Corsi % (5v5, Score and Venue Adjusted) | 47.16 | 22nd | 51.35 | 10th |
| Fenwick % (5v5, SVA) | 47.95 | 22nd | 50.98 | 14th |
