Coming off three consecutive wins on the road, it seems safe to say at this point that the Ottawa Senators will never lose another hockey game. As much as we enjoyed watching all those losing games earlier in the season, I suppose we can get used to supporting a team that doesn’t concede eight goals every night. And while goals against have gone down, so too have shots against (as low as they’ve fallen in months!), and powerplay goals-for have of late outnumbered penalty kill goals-against. What a coincidence! So as we get ready for another late night online, let’s check out the Senators’ lines from yesterday’s practice:

The Canucks rolled out these lines last game (with Holtby projected to start tonight):

Notes:

• According to head coach DJ Smith, if Nick Paul can’t play tonight then Vitaly Abramov will make his 2021 debut in Ottawa. The skilled winger had seven points in eight games with Jukurit in Finland, and has 17 points in 22 games in Belleville this season./

DJ Smith - Nick Paul. We held him out of practice today. We will see tomorrow morning how he is. If he can't play we will put Abramov in.

— TSN 1200 (@TSN1200) April 23, 2021

• The legend of bionic Matt Murray grows as the revitalized netminder has conceded just five goals in his last four games since returning from injury (three at even strength) good for a 96 save percentage in all situations. Seattle, please take note.
• Speaking of legends, Connor Brown has 11 goals in his last 12 games. That seems good. Even if no one expects a sustained shooting percentage of 33, his play alongside Alex Formenton has provided plenty of entertainment value along with the goals.
• With Ottawa’s next two games at home against the Canucks after this western swing, will coach Smith make good on his promise to get Jacob Bernard-Docker back in the lineup at the CTC?
• As much as I complained earlier in the season, this current iteration of the Senators has four defenders out of six under the age of 26 and seven forwards under that same cutoff (eight if Abramov plays tonight), and it kicks all sorts of ass.
• You can catch the game on CBC, SN, TSN1200 at 10PM EST/

Stats as always courtesy of naturalstattrick

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