Game 40 preview: Ottawa Senators @ St. Louis Blues

The struggling Ottawa Senators will look to end a three- game losing streak when they visit the St. Louis Blues tonight. Ottawa lost 3-0 in Chicago last night and have been outscored 9-0 in the last 135 minutes of hockey. The Blues lost 4-1 in Toronto on Saturday and don't have a regulation win in their last five games.

Andrew Hammond will start while Jared Cowen and David Dziurzynski will be the healthy scratches again. Dave Cameron is expected to change up his lines, but it is not known yet what they will be. Here are the lines from last night.

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

Claesson - Karlsson
Methot - Wideman
Wiercioch - Borowiecki

Hammond (starter)
Anderson

Some notes for tonight:

• The Senators played a decent game in Chicago but the Blackhawks are simply a better team. Not a lot to complain about.
• Not a lot doesn't mean nothing to complain about though. And Zack Smith's continued power play time is something worth complaining about.
• Erik Karlsson has now played 31 minutes or more in five out of the last six games. He leads the NHL with an average ice time of 28:26 per game and that is only going to keep climbing if the current trend continues.
• Bobby Ryan was held without a shot on goal for the second consecutive game. He has now just one point in five games. With Cameron calling out the Mika Zibanejad line, you would expect them to be broken up for tonight.
• The Senators have not scored a goal since Jared Cowen was scratched. He could be the missing link.
• Ottawa has lost seven in a row on the road, with most of them by multiple goals.
• The Senators used to have an unstoppable power play a few weeks ago with Karlsson and Mike Hoffman on the point. Then Hoffman was randomly removed and it has never been the same.
• Ottawa is down to 11th in the east and with a tough schedule to come, they need to start playing better very quickly.
• Vladimir Tarasenko is second in the NHL in goals and sixth in points as well as sixth in shots on goal./

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.