Game 53 Hub: Ottawa Senators @ Florida Panthers

The Sportsnet broadcast mentioned yesterday that the Ottawa Senators' 4-2 victory over Tampa Bay may have been frustrating to some Sens fans, and I totally get it. The way they've played over the last month was the logical next step from 2022-23, but instead, they started the year by regressing to a form that I dare say was less fun to watch than Chris Tierney in a top-six role.

Thankfully, Anton Forsberg has been playing very well since his return from injury and will hopefully wait what do you mean it's a back-to-back?

Not unlike Ottawa, tonight's opponents, the Florida Panthers are coming off a victory in Tampa, albeit by a 9-2 score. Matthew Tkachuk is still Matthew Tkachuk, but Sam Reinhart is leading the way offensively this time, with 39 goals and 66 points.

Game Notes:

• After a rough stretch, Tim Stützle has back-to-back 2-point games. His opening goal yesterday was one of the slickest plays I've seen from him in a long time.
• Perhaps a move to the wing could help Josh Norris regain his form from his sophomore season. He's a shooter, so why not pair him up with Stützle or Ridly Greig?
• It's unfortunate that the Panthers are so good at generating shots and chances because the Sens just entered the league's top half in shots against per game this season.
• The power-play is, let's face it, awful, but I don't think we're giving the coaching staff and players enough credit for the penalty kill. NaturalStatTrick ranks them 12th in expected goals against per 60 minutes at 4-on-5, and it's surprisingly because of a dead-last save percentage of .820 that they're 30th in the league in PK%.
• It's a 7:00 pm EST start, and the game is available on RDS, TSN5, and TSN1200.

Stats: