Game 57 Preview + Open Thread: Senators @ Predators

The Ottawa Senators were riding high on the weekend, beating the Vegas Golden Knights 4-3 in a shootout and posting an 11-4-3 record over their last 18 games. The game on Monday against the Washington Capitals didn't exactly wipe out all that good will, but it certainly dampened the mood. Their 6-3 loss was incredible considering they only allowed 20 shots against, which...has been something of a theme this season.

Tonight they head to Nashville to face the Predators, hoping to not let this turn into a losing streak. The two teams' only other matchup this season was on January 29th, with the Senators coming back from 3-0 down to win 4-3 in overtime thanks to Claude Giroux. The Predators sit in the final wildcard spot in the West with a record of 32-25-2, which is a bit surprising considering the trade talk surrounding Juuse Saros.

The lines for the Senators last night were as follows, although they're subject to change, and it does seem Jonas Korpisalo will get the start:

These were the lines for the Predators on Sunday, although I would expect Juuse Saros to be the starter:

Tonight's game starts at 8:00 Eastern.

Game Notes:

• The Predators have won five in a row heading into tonight, so Ottawa isn't catching them at a good time. All five wins were on the road too, making it that much more impressive.
• I'm going to have my eye on Jakob Chychrun tonight, who had as rough of a game as you can have last night, and has been one of the few players not playing the best of late. He's too talented to not bounce back.
• Two players I like on the Predators are Luke Evangelista and Tommy Novak. They're solid players who don't get much recognition outside of Nashville because the Predators are usually littered with random players that other fanbases don't know about. But these two are quite good.
• Anton Forsberg had been playing well enough for a few games before last night, but even Joonas Korpisalo wasn't good enough either. So they don't exactly have an easy choice to make tonight.
• If Artem Zub is not able to go yet, it'll be very apparent just like it was last night with Travis Hamonic in the lineup for him.
• The trade deadline is just 10 days away—can Vladimir Tarasenko keep raising his trade value?

Stats: