It’s strange to say this about a game on December 17th, but the Ottawa Senators win against the Detroit Red Wings yesterday was easily their biggest of the season. Detroit isn’t in a playoff spot, but they are one of the teams that Ottawa needs to leapfrog if they want to get back into the race. The Senators' 6-3 win was their fourth in a row, and they reached “NHL .500” at 14-14-2 (but not a .500 winning percentage), which is the first time they are at that mark since they were 4-4-0 in the early going.

They’ve gone a remarkable 8-2-1 over their last 11 games, which has salvaged a season that looked lost just a month ago. A win this afternoon would give them five in a row and it would be incredibly impressive considering it’s the second half of a back-to-back on the road against a Minnesota Wild team that is firmly in a playoff spot with 36 points in 30 games.

The lines will be what they went with yesterday:

#Sens vs. Wings

Tkachuk Brassard Giroux
DeBrincat Pinto Batherson
Gambrell Chartier Kelly
Motte Kastelic Watson

Chabot Zaitsev
Sanderson Hamonic
Brannstrom Holden

Talbot

— Bruce Garrioch (@SunGarrioch) December 17, 2022

I would assume that Anton Forsberg is in net instead of Cam Talbot, although that has not been confirmed.

Game Notes:

• Scott Sabourin was recalled today, although he won’t be playing. Austin Watson was only fined instead of suspended for his interference on Dylan Larkin, and Sabourin was insurance for a suspension. Considering it was Sabourin called up, I feel like they’re expecting a fight with Ryan Reaves today.
• Ottawa’s powerplay is up to fourth in the league at a rate of 28.8%. They scored three times yesterday and scored twice in each of their previous three wins as well—9/21 or 42.9%. They’ll need it to be successful today in a difficult matchup.
• Alex DeBrincat has been exactly what the Senators have needed lately. He’s up to 30 points in 30 games, and he even set a cool record for the team last game:/

All good things come to an end, but what a run it was for Alex DeBrincat.

✅ Factor on 8 straight @Senators goals
✅ Assist on 6 straight OTT goals

More #NHLStats: https://t.co/0bKl6Qlffw pic.twitter.com/WfA0711QDC

— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) December 17, 2022

• The last time the Senators won five in a row was in March 2017 when they actually won six in a row total. Getting a win today would instill a lot of confidence that this team has a lot of resiliency. Even if they lose, they’ve done an excellent job to get back into the mix.
• The Wild are also hot coming into today’s game as they have won four in a row and are 8-2-0 in their last ten games. They had a slow start at 7-8-2, but have really picked things up over the last month.
• Our old pal Filip Gustavsson has been fantastic for the Wild with a .921 SV% in 11 games. That doesn’t surprise me that much, as he’s always been incredibly streaky. He benefits from good team defense though, so who knows if that SV% will last. Either way, he’s expected to start today, and I really don’t like that considering Ottawa’s eerily strange record against former Senators goalies:/

Filip Gustavsson has been confirmed as starter for Minnesota today…@LockedOnWild | #SensAbroad pic.twitter.com/2L74Cc3fVi

— Locked On Senators (@SensCentral) December 18, 2022

• Kirill Kaprizov will have to be neutralized tonight, as the Russian phenom has 39 points in 30 games, good for eighth in the NHL.
• It’s an early start today at 2:00 EST on TSN5 and RDS./

Player Stats

Team Stats