Game 23 preview: Ottawa Senators @ Arizona Coyotes

The Ottawa Senators will look for a perfect 3-for-3 road trip and their fifth straight win overall when they visit the Arizona Coyotes tonight. Despite conceding seven goals in two road games on this trip, the Senators have won both games thanks to scoring 12 themselves. Arizona played last night and won 2-1 in overtime at home against Calgary.

The Senators will go with the same lineup. Patrick Wiercioch is off injured reserve but will not play, so he is presumably a healthy scratch. Craig Anderson will start.

Here are the expected lines:

Hoffman - Turris - Ryan
Lazar - Zibanejad - Stone
Michalek - Pageau - Chiasson
Prince - Smith - Neil

Methot - Karlsson
Cowen - Ceci
Borowiecki - Wideman

Anderson (starter)
Driedger

Some notes for tonight:

• Erik Karlsson's point streak is now at eight games. Mike Hoffman has points in three straight games for a total of five points. Hoffman has had multiple points in four of his last seven games.
• Shane Prince got the first and second goals of his NHL career against Colorado. He is up to 10th on the team in points.
• Curtis Lazar continuing to get second line opportunities is really bizarre.
• Jared Cowen is second on the team with a +9. I don't understand all the criticism for him to be honest. :-)
• One thing Karlsson is not doing as much as previous years is getting shots on goal. He is on pace for 194 shots which would be his lowest total since 2010-2011 getting over 250 shots in each full season since then.
• Some of that might be that the team simply doesn't have possession of the puck as often.
• Excluding shootout goals, the Senators average 3.18 per game, which is the fourth highest in the NHL.
• There are 60 games left, but Ottawa is currently four points ahead of the Tampa Bay Lightning for the final playoff spot. Ottawa also holds two games in hand.
• The Senators and Coyotes were tied 1-1 late in the third period in October. Ottawa collapsed and lost 4-1. Mikkel Boedker got a hat trick for the Coyotes.
• How many times will we hear that the Michalek and Stone brothers are playing against each other?/

Here are some stats for the two teams tonight. All stats are from NHL.com except Corsi and Fenwick are from www.puckon.net. Note that Corsi is now adjusted for score as well as the venue and event type.