Game 23 preview: Ottawa Senators @ Tampa Bay Lightning

The Ottawa Senators will look to bounce back from one of the most disappointing performances of the season when they visit the Tampa Bay Lightning tonight. Ottawa was outshot 46-24 in Florida last night and the defensive play was just shocking. While the score might not reflect it, last night was surely rock bottom. RIGHT!?

But we have been here before. Ottawa looked awful in Detroit on Monday and had a back-to-back game on the road the next night against an elite team. They played very well in St. Louis so who knows what happens tonight.

Bobby Ryan hurt his finger and will be out tonight, Mika Zibanejad will draw back in. Zack Smith will also be a healthy scratch and will be replaced by Colin Greening. Robin Lehner will start. The Senators had an optional skate but here are Gord Wilson's guess at the lines.

MacArthur - Turris - Chiasson
Condra - Legwand - Neil
Greening - Zibanejad - Michalek
Hoffman - Lazar - Stone

Phillips - Karlsson
Cowen - Ceci
Wiercioch - Gryba

Lehner (starter)
Anderson

Some notes for tonight:

• Of the 14 forwards on the roster, seven of them have definitely been healthy scratches in Erik Condra, Colin Greening, Mika Zibanejad, Milan Michalek, Mike Hoffman, Curtis Lazar and Zack Smith. Mark Stone has missed a game that may or may not have been an injury.
• Robin Lehner allowed 14 goals on his first 20 career shootout attempts but has allowed only three in the last 20.
• The Senators have fallen to seventh in the division, ahead of only lowly Buffalo.
• This will be the Senators last game of the month, having gone 5-6-2 in November so far.
• Mike Hoffman has had at least one shot on goal in the last 15 games that he has played.
• It is a positive sign to see Zack Smith as a healthy scratch for once. It is nice to see Paul MacLean recognise the struggles of one of the "gritty" players.
• Ottawa's next seven games are against the Lightning, Islanders, Islanders again, Penguins, Canucks, Kings and Bruins.
• Chris Neil is now one goal behind Bobby Ryan! *faints*
• Colin Greening is the only player on the team without a point so far.
• The Lightning lead the NHL with 3.48 goals per game./

Here are some stats for the two teams tonight. All stats are from NHL.com except Corsi and Fenwick are from naturalstattrick.com.