Game 24 Preview: Ottawa Senators @ New York Islanders
This is the Sens’ last chance to earn a win before the California trip
This is a rematch of last weekend’s game, when the losing streak was at a young five games. Now we’ve suffered through two more losses, and a win tonight probably isn’t expected, but would be appreciated.
Craig Anderson gets the nod over Mike Condon, while The Bloggers’ Choice (TM) Thomas Chabot will replace Ben Harpur. I’ve enclosed the lines, and based on time on ice from last game, Boucher mostly stuck to these forward lines:
(Edit: turns out Boucher is going to play Ryan-Brassard-Stone and Hoffman-Duchene-Smith)
Smith - Brassard - Ryan
Hoffman - Duchene - Stone
Dzingel - Pageau - Pyatt
Burrows - Thompson - Dumont
Oduya - Karlsson
Phaneuf - Ceci
Chabot - Claesson
Anderson (starter)
Condon
Some thoughts:
- Zack Smith may have gone 19 games without a goal (dating back to Game 3 of Round 3 of the playoffs), but he sure looked like he wanted one last game with five shots on goal and a crossbar. He was rewarded with 20 minutes, and if he keeps playing like that, I’d like to see him stay in the top six
- Meanwhile Alexandre Burrows has been below 11 minutes two games in a row, recording a single shot in that time. He didn’t record a single shot in the Canadiens game, despite 2:22 on the powerplay as the net-front guy. He also straight-up blocked a shot while in that position. I’d really like to see Mark Stone move back to that spot, since he can, you know, follow the play and handle the puck
- Each of the last two games has gone downhill after Boucher decided to start Dion Phaneuf and Cody Ceci in the defensive zone against the opposition’s top line, only to see Ottawa hemmed in their own zone for way too long after losing the draw
- Boucher doesn’t seem to see an issue with that though: /
- If Erik Karlsson doesn’t get a point tonight, he’ll tie his career-high pointless streak with eight games in a row. Seven games without a point... Sens are 0-6-1 in that span... * insert thinking emoji *.... /
Boucher says Ceci has the most difficult job on the team outside of goaltending. He is facing the other teams best lines every shift.
— TSN 1200 (@TSN1200) November 30, 2017
Here are the stats for the two teams entering tonight:
Team Stats
| Category | Ottawa | Senators | Boston | Bruins |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| -- | Value | Rank | Value | Rank |
| Goals/GP | 2.68 | 25th | 3.25 | 6th |
| Goals against/GP | 3.44 | 30th | 2.56 | 3rd |
| Shots/GP | 30.7 | 24th | 32.8 | 11th |
| Shots against/GP | 33.0 | 25th | 29.3 | 2nd |
| Powerplay % | 16.7 | 26th | 23.5 | 4th |
| Penalty Kill % | 76.2 | 27th | 83.3 | 4th |
| Corsi (5v5, Score & Venue Adjusted) | 46.32 | 29th | 53.97 | 2nd |
| Fenwick (5v5, SVA) | 46.94 | 27th | 54.01 | 1st |
Player Stats
| Ottawa | Senators | Boston | Bruins | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| -- | Player | # | Player | # |
| Goals | Matt Duchene | 27 | Brad Marchand | 34 |
| Assists | Erik Karlsson (out) | 53 | Brad Marchand | 51 |
| Points | Karlsson/Stone (both out) | 62 | Brad Marchand | 85 |
| Shots | Mike Hoffman | 253 | David Pastrnak | 236 |
| TOI/GP | Erik Karlsson (out) | 26:44 | Zdeno Chara | 22:53 |
