Game 27 Hub: Ottawa Senators @ Arizona Coyotes

Right off the top, if you somehow missed the news, yesterday the Senators relieved DJ Smith of his coaching duties, as well as Assistant Coach David Payne, replacing them with Jacques Martin and Daniel Alfredsson respectively.

Today's morning skate was an optional, so your guess is as good as mine about what the lines will look like. Will Martin make changes right away, or will he stick with what was being used until he can get a few practices in?

Game Notes

• Alfie will be taking over power play duties, and it has needed the help recently. They did score two against Vegas, but are under 15% since returning from Sweden.
• Will we see the new coach bump tonight? While the effect is almost universal, that doesn't necessarily mean in game #1
• Martin has the well earned reputation as a defensive coach but worth mentioning that scoring also went in Ottawa the first time he took over, and same when he took over in Florida
• Arizona is actually decent so far this year? Or at least better than any point in all of recorded history recent memory - they're holding down the 2nd wild card spot in the West with a .533 point% right now. That's a better point% than they have finished a season with since 2013-14
• Part of their (relative) success is the combined shooting and save %, where they are 4th and 6th in the league respectively. But they're averaging five fewer shots for per game than shots against
• What's wrong with Tim Stützle? He keeps setting up goals instead of scoring them, and is on pace for... uh... one more point than last season. In all seriousness he does seem off when he's the one trying to score, but he leads the league in 5v5 assists
• It's a 9pm EST start, with coverage on RDS, TSN5 and TSN1200

Stats