Game 20 preview: Ottawa Senators @ Detroit Red Wings

The Ottawa Senators will start a tough road trip when they visit the Red Wings in tonight. After playing the 10-5-5 Red Wings tonight, Ottawa will be back in action to take on the 14-6-1 Blues. After two days off, the Senators will play another set of back-to-back games against the 7-5-6 Panthers on Friday and the 14-6-2 Lightning on Saturday. They finish it off by visiting the 14-6-0 Islanders next week.

Clearly, it is going to be a tough schedule for Ottawa and they would do well to come away with four points out of the four games this week. Curtis Lazar will return to the lineup tonight and Craig Anderson will start.

Here are the lines and pairings for Ottawa from Sylvain St-Laurent.

Ottawa

MacArthur - Turris - Chiasson
Ryan - Legwand - Zibanejad
Michalek - Smith - Neil
Hoffman - Lazar - Stone

Borowiecki - Karlsson
Cowen - Ceci
Wiercioch - Gryba

Anderson (starter)
Lehner

Here is the Red Wings lineup from Ansar Khan.

Detroit

Nyquist - Zetterberg - Abdelkader
Tatar - Sheahan - Franzen
Weiss - Helm - Jurco
Miller - Glendening - Andersson

Ericsson - Kronwall
Quincey - DeKeyser
Ouellet - Kindl

Howard (starter)
Mrazek

Some notes for tonight:

• It will be nice to see Jimmy Howard alive and well after his tragic death during the last meeting between these clubs.
• The Senators will catch a break as Pavel Datsyuk is still out injured and won't play tonight.
• The Senators will also catch a break as Chris Phillips is also still out injured and won't play tonight.
• Craig Anderson will play for the first time since 15 November. He was poor against Calgary on that night but has been excellent this season with a 93.5 save percentage.
• The Senators have the eighth best record in the east but are not in a playoff spot due to being sixth in the division.
• Marc Methot must be getting closer to a return as he is skating with Erik Karlsson in practice except on game days.
• Ottawa is the only team in the NHL to not lose by more than two goals this season. 17 out of their 19 games have been decided by two goals or less.
• Erik Karlsson is the only player on the team with a shot on goal in every game. He has had at least two shots in 17 out of 19 games and has had three or more shots in 14 out of 19 games.
• Bobby Ryan has a point in four straight games and in six out of the last seven.
• Patrick Wiercioch still hasn't been on the ice for a goal against since 18 October. He has been on the ice for one opposition goal all season. #WierciochBest #ExceptKarlsson #KarlssonBest
• Tomas Tatar has five goals in his last five games on 21 shots.