Game 80 preview: Pittsburgh Penguins @ Ottawa Senators

A preview of the game between the Ottawa Senators and the Pittsburgh Penguins on 5 April 2016.

The surging Pittsburgh Penguins cruise into town to play a mehing Ottawa Senators side. The Penguins have won six in a row following a loss which followed another six game winning streak. Meanwhile the Senators are just playing out the string with nothing but milestones for Erik Karlsson, Mike Hoffman and Mika Zibanejad left to play for.

With all the injuries, the Senators will ice a lineup with a very strong AHL flavour. Here are the lines expected for tonight:

Smith - Pageau - Ryan
Hoffman - ZIbanejad - Dzingel
Puempel - Lazar - Chiasson
Robinson - Paul - Neil

Claesson - Karlsson
Kostka - Ceci
Harpur - Wideman

Hammond (starter)
Anderson

Some notes for tonight:

  • Erik Karlsson broke his own club record for points by a defenceman with his 79th point on Saturday.
  • Karlsson has tied the highest number of assists by a defenceman in the last 20 years and is one point shy of the most points by a defenceman in the last 20 years.
  • Mike Hoffman needs two goals and two assists to get 30 goals and 30 assists for the season.
  • Mika Zibanejad needs one more goal to get to 20 goals and two more points to get to 50.
  • Karlsson leads Joe Thornton by four for the most assists in the league. He also leads Thornton by one point for fourth place in the NHL scoring race.
  • Sidney Crosby has a point in six straight games and in 18 of the last 19 games.
  • Kris Letang is also on a six game points streak.
  • The Penguins have won by scores of 7-2, 3-2, 5-4, 5-2, 5-0 and 6-2 on this winning streak.
  • Cody Ceci can reach 10 goals if he manages to score one more goal in the next three games.
  • Buddy Robinson will make his NHL debut tonight. Robinson has 22 points in 58 AHL games this year.
  • It sure was a different atmosphere last year when the Senators played the Penguins at home during the last week of the season eh?
  • Thursday's game will be Karlsson's 250th consecutive regular season game.
  • Matt Puempel has just 23 shots in 23 NHL games this season./

Here are some stats for the two teams tonight. All stats are from NHL.com except Corsi and Fenwick are from www.puckon.net. Note that Corsi is now adjusted for score as well as the venue and event type.

Category Ottawa Pittsburgh
Player # Player #
Goals Mike Hoffman 28 Sidney Crosby
33
Assists Erik Karlsson 64 Sidney Crosby
49
Points Erik Karlsson 79 Sidney Crosby 82
Shots Erik Karlsson 240 Phil Kessel 265
Average Ice time Erik Karlsson 29:02 Kris Letang 26:53

Category Ottawa Pittsburgh
# Rank # Rank
Goals For 2.76 9th 2.92 3rd
Goals Against 2.96 26th 2.41 6th
Event, Score and venue adjusted Corsi % 47.9% 22nd 53.6% 2nd
Event, Score and venue adjusted Fenwick % 47.5% 23rd 53.7% 2nd
Shots For 28.3 27th 33.4 1st
Shots Against 32.7 30th 29.6 12th

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