Game 40 Preview & Open Thread: Ottawa Senators @ Pittsburgh Penguins

After a sloppy game against New Jersey saw both teams pick up a point, the Sens are going to need their legs against a Penguins team that’s 8-2-0 in their last 10, and are among the better groups in the Eastern Conference.

There’s not much indication that D.J. Smith is going to make any lineup changes other than in goal, where Marcus Hogberg will get into his sixth game with the big club:

Meanwhile, here’s how the Penguins lined up the last time out against the Nashville Predators:

Game Notes

• Let’s start with Pittsburgh. The team has won a league-best 15 home games, and as you can see in the stats below, rank among the top-10 in many important league-wide categories outside of special teams.
• They’ve done this without Sidney Crosby, who had 17 points in 17 games before going down with an injury. Ex-Panther Nick Bjugstad, top powerplay quarterback Justin Schultz, and reliable defensive contributor Brian Dumoulin are all out — hence all the new names in the Pens lineup.
• It’s rare to see a Penguins team without Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, or Kris Letang being the de facto MVP. Jake Guentzel and Bryan Rust co-share the honours this year, with Guentzel leading in most of the counting numbers, and Rust channelling his inner Brady Tkachuk — generating individual expected goals at an alarming rate.
• After coming over in the Olli Määttä trade, 24-year-old German winger Dominik Kahun has provided much needed depth scoring for the Penguins. One of four active German forwards receiving NHL time, Kahun has nine goals and 21 points in 37 games.
• One trade that hasn’t really worked out is the acquisition of ex-Habs top pick Alex Galchenyuk. He has 13 points in 29 games and is near the bottom on the team in terms of shot metrics.
• The Penguins in general are a pretty young group, with 13 of their 23 skaters age 25 or younger. That’s one more than Ottawa’s current group of 22. On defence, the second pair of  third-year pro Marcus Pettersson (23) and rookie John Marino (22) have stepped into important minutes in the absence of Schultz and Dumoulin.
• On Ottawa’s end, D.J. Smith was unhappy with his team’s 60-minute effort and the sloppy penalties they took. Look for the team to try and be more disciplined today as a result.
• While he signed a big contract in 2019, I’m sure Colin White is hoping that 2020 will be a better year for him personally. He’s been starting to turn a corner lately with four points in his last five games. He’s been trending well in terms of expected goals, but is ~47% in shot share. He really seems to struggle with Vlad Namestnikov on his wing. /

Stats, as always, are courtesy of naturalstattrick.com and nhl.com:

Player Stats

Team Stats