Game 63 Preview: Ottawa Senators @ Washington Capitals

Yes, there is still hockey to be played. 20 games in fact.

Rudolfs Balcers and Christian Wolanin are back in the lineup after their whirlwind reassignment to Belleville that didn’t even require them to get off their couch, and Mark Borowiecki returns tonight. Oscar Lindberg and Brian Gibbons have also joined the team.

Here’s the lineups from today’s morning skate:

Tkachuk White Duclair
Smith Pageau Ryan
Balcers Tierney Boedker
Paajarvi Lindberg Gibbons

Chabot DeMelo
Wolanin Ceci
Borowiecki Jaros

Nilsson (starter)
Anderson

Game Notes

• I’m not still angry, you’re still angry!
• Okay, we’re all still angry.
• Anthony Duclair had a solid showing in his first game, let’s see if he can string a few together in a row. It’d sure be nice to have a reclamation project turn into something reliable.
• At least the goal drought ended last game.
• To end on a legitimate, no sarcasm high point, the PK is rolling again having killed a perfect nine of nine times shorthanded in the past three games and are SIXTH in the league since January 6th (Pageau’s return)./

Here are some player stats, via nhl.com and Natural Stat Trick:

Team Stats

	Ottawa	Senators	St. Louis	Blues
Category	Value	Rank	Value	Rank
Goals/GP	2.93	18th	2.87	19th
Goals Against/GP	3.71	31st	2.75	7th
Shots/GP	29.9	23rd	31.6	16th
Shots Against/GP	36.0	31st	28.6	3rd
Powerplay %	20.0	14th	20.4	13th
Penalty Kill %	79.4	22nd	80.8	13th
Corsi (5v5, Score & Venue Adjusted)	44.49	31st	51.61	9th
Fenwick (5v5, SVA)	45.01	31st	52.36	9th

Player Stats

	Ottawa	Senators	St. Louis	Blues
--	Player	#	Player	#
Goals	Brady Tkachuk	16	Vladimir Tarasenko	28
Assists	Thomas Chabot	36	Ryan O'Reilly	41
Points	Thomas Chabot	49	Ryan O'Reilly	67
Shots	Brady Tkachuk	170	Vladimir Tarasenko	235
TOI/GP	Thomas Chabot	24:03	Alex Pietrangelo	23:51