Game 52 Hub: Ottawa Senators @ Tampa Bay Lightning
I'd say this isn't funny anymore, but that would be a lie.
.887 GOALTENDING!!! Y'all remember Scott Darling on the Hurricanes? HE WAS STILL BETTER!!!
We have to think of this as an investment. If this causes them to allow 20 shots per game from now on, so be it.
The Tampa Bay Lightning also have bad goaltending, with Andrei Vasilevskiy posting an .899 in 31 games, but they have something Ottawa doesn't – Nikita Kucherov, leading the league with 94 points. That, along with decent defensive play throughout the year is why they're still 30-21-5 this season. In contrast, Ottawa's commitment to playing defense hasn't been nearly as consistent. It's greatly improved over the last few weeks though, and the goaltending has not.
Here are your starting lines:
Greig-Norris-Batherson
Joseph-Stützle-Giroux
Tkachuk-Pinto-Tarasenko
Kubalik-Kastelic-Kelly
Sanderson-Zub
Chabot-Bernard-Docker
Chychrun-Brännström
Forsberg
Korpisalo
Stats:
| Game 52 | Senators | Lightning | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Category | Player | # | Player | # |
| Goals | Brady Tkachuk | 25 | Nikita Kucherov | 36 |
| Assists | Tim Stützle | 37 | Nikita Kucherov | 58 |
| Points | Tim Stützle | 49 | Nikita Kucherov | 94 |
| Shots | Brady Tkachuk | 223 | Nikita Kucherov | 234 |
| Time on Ice/GP | Thomas Chabot | 24:18 | Victor Hedman | 24:38 |
| Game 52 | Senators | Lightning | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Category | # | Rank | # | Rank |
| Goals/GP | 3.35 | 9th | 3.41 | 7th |
| Goals Against/GP | 3.61 | 30th | 3.38 | 25th |
| Shots/GP | 32.8 | 7th | 30.0 | 22nd |
| Shots Against/GP | 30.3 | 17th | 29.9 | 11th |
| Powerplay % | 16.1 | 24th | 30.2 | 1st |
| Penalty Kill % | 74.2 | 30th | 79.9 | 14th |
| Corsi % (5v5 SVA) | 50.07 | 17th | 51.32 | 12th |
| xGF % (5v5 SVA) | 48.93 | 23rd | 49.30 | 21st |
