After coming off of a solid 4-1 win against the New Jersey Devils last night, the Ottawa Senators are again facing off against a Metropolitan team in the nation’s capital. This time it’s a much better team: the Carolina Hurricanes. The Senators and Hurricanes have played twice this season, with Ottawa eking out a 3-2 road win in December and then Carolina winning 3-2 in a shootout on January 27th. So despite the Hurricanes being one of the best teams in the league, the matchups have been close.

The Senators have somehow been playing decently well recently (4-2-1) despite being without Drake Batherson and Josh Norris, and the return of Connor Brown last night was a big upgrade. Can they continue to hang with some of the better teams in the league and actually get a win too?

Here is how they will line up tonight, which is the exact same as last night. The only difference is Anton Forsberg will start:

The #GoSensGo lines and pairings tonight against the #NJDevils.

Tkachuk - Stützle - Gaudette
Formenton - Paul - Brown
Sanford - Gambrell - Watson
Tierney - Kastelic - Ennis

Chabot - Zaitsev
Holden - Zub
Brannstrom - Brown

Murray

— Kristy (@InStilettos_NHL) February 7, 2022

Here are Carolina’s lines from last night, although it’s unclear as of now if they will be making any changes. I would assume that Antti Raanta gets the start:

Outside of Leivo in for Teräväinen, Brendan Smith takes Ethan Bear's spot. Carolina's projected lineup:

Martinook - Aho - Necas
Svechnikov - Trocheck - Jarvis
Niederreiter - Staal - Fast
Lorentz - Stepan - Leivo

Slavin - DeAngelo
Skjei - Pesce
Smith - Cole

Andersen

— Walt Ruff (@WaltRuff) February 7, 2022

Game Notes

• Connor Brown had been out since January 13th, but his return last night was noticeable. After his goal and assist, he’s on pace for 64 points in a full season. Look for him to continue to make a big difference.
• Adam Gaudette is now up to 8 points in 13 games with the Senators and is getting a big opportunity on the first line. This is his best chance yet to succeed.
• Anton Forsberg gets the start tonight after Matt Murray did last night. Murray has been incredible of late (.944 SV% in 7 games), so hopefully Forsberg can keep up the positive momentum.
• Mark Kastelic registered his first career point last night and I’m glad he’s getting a brief look on the 4th line. He’s suited for that role long-term and he’s fitting in so far.
• Carolina lost in overtime to Toronto last night but they had just won four in a row before that, seven of their last nine, and are 16-3-2 in their last 21 games. Their loss immediately before this 21-game stretch? It was against your Ottawa Senators.
• Brady Tkachuk has been getting some assists, but he hasn’t scored since December 14th, which is a whopping 15 games. He’ll need to get that monkey off his back.
• Parker Kelly was recalled today as Clark Bishop is a bit banged up. It seems unlikely he’ll get into the lineup for this call-up unless there are other injuries./

Team Stats

Game 42	Ottawa	Senators	Carolina	Hurricanes
Category	#	Rank	#	Rank
Goals/GP	2.76	21st	3.47	5th
Goals Against/GP	3.32	24th	2.37	1st
Shots/GP	30.3	19th	32.9	12th
Shots Against/GP	33.3	27th	28.3	2nd
Powerplay %	18.4	22nd	24.8	10th
Penalty Kill %	80.0	15th	88.7	1st
Corsi % (5v5 SVA)	46.66	28th	55.25	3rd
xGF % (5v5 SVA)	46.82	24th	53.99	5th

Player Stats

Game 42	Ottawa	Senators	Carolina	Hurricanes
Category	Player	#	Player	#
Goals	Josh Norris	18	Sebastian Aho	19
Assists	Drake Batherson	21	Sebastian Aho	26
Points	Drake Batherson	34	Sebastian Aho	45
Shots	Brady Tkachuk	133	Andrei Svechnikov	130
Time on Ice/GP	Thomas Chabot	27:08:00	Jaccob Slavin	23:51:00