Game 64 preview: St. Louis Blues @ Ottawa Senators

After breaking out of a long slump, Erik Karlsson will hope that the good times continue to roll in tonight's game against the St. Louis Blues. Karlsson ended a run of three straight games without a point with a couple of assists on Saturday in Calgary. Ottawa won the game 6-4.

The Senators are six points behind the Penguins for the final wild card spot, with the Penguins holding two games in hand. The Bruins are eight points ahead of Ottawa with the same number of games played. As far as the lineup is concerned, Patrick Wiercioch will be a healthy scratch on defence with Mark Borowiecki playing for an NHL team. Matt Puempel will replaced the injured Kyle Turris and Craig Anderson will start. Here are the lines.

Hoffman - Zibanejad - Ryan
Smith - Pageau - Stone
Puempel - Lazar - Chiasson
Dzingel - Paul - Neil

Methot - Karlsson
Phaneuf - Ceci
Borowiecki - Wideman

Anderson (starter)
Hammond

Some notes for tonight:

• Karlsson now needs 16 assists in 19 games to break Jason Spezza's club record for assists in a single season.
• Karlsson needs 14 points in 19 games to post the highest points total by a defenceman in 20 years. He also needs nine assists to post the highest assists total by a defenceman in 20 years.
• Karlsson needs four more assists to break his own club record for most assists by a defenceman in a season.
• Mark Stone finished the month of February with nine goals and seven assists for 16 points in 13 games.
• With Turris out, Mika Zibanejad should get a great chance to boost his points total with #1 line minutes and the top unit on the power play. Zibanejad is currently on pace to set a career high with 51 points.
• Bobby Ryan has two goals and no assists in the last 10 games.
• Andrew Hammond has not played since his weak performance against Colorado on 11 February.
• Zack Smith's hard work in the summer working on his shot continues to pay off with Karlsson's bouncing a puck off him into the net.
• Craig Anderson has given up four goals in each of the last two games after allowing two or less in seven of the eight previous games.
• The Senators are 5-4-0 and around a 50% Corsi team since the Dion Phaneuf trade.
• Mike Hoffman is going to have two full seasons under his belt after this season. He had 27 goals last season and around 30 this year. With one more year until hitting UFA, he is going to be a rich man.
• Vladimir Tarasenko is fifth in the NHL with 228 shots on goal./