Game 54 Hub: Dallas Stars @ Ottawa Senators

Editor's note: Contrary to what was written in an earlier version of this preview, the Ottawa Senators are not, in fact, playing their game in Dallas tonight. They are facing off against the Stars, but in Ottawa. We apologize for the error! – nkb

Tonight, the Ottawa Senators return home after a brief road trip to host the Dallas Stars. Currently leading the Central Division, second only to the Vancouver Canucks in the entire Western Conference, the Stars will be another tough test for Ottawa as they continue to figure out how to play good, consistent hockey.

The two trends of the season will be front and centre again tonight, with all the focus being on Ottawa's special teams and goaltending. The Stars, as a team, have the 11th ranked powerplay and sixth ranked penalty kill league-wide while the Sens sit 26th and 29th in those same categories. An even tougher challenge will come in the form of team defense and goaltending, since the Stars also happen to lead the entire league in goals for per game with 3.68. As Ottawa's goals against per game ranks 29th, this could tough to watch for Sens fans.

Here were the lines from morning skate.

Game Notes

• Anton Forsberg will be the starter tonight, after posting a .920 SV% in Ottawa's win against Tampa Bay to kick off this road trip.
• If things hold true, this will be Travis Hamonic's third healthy scratch game in a row.
• Claude Giroux enters tonight's game on a six game point streak where he's compiled 3 goals and 4 assists in this stretch.
• Following a four game slump, Tim Stützle has found himself back as the star of the team with goals in three straight contests, a couple of the highlight reel variety.
• Jacques Martin is continuing his plan to balance out his top nine, spreading the wealth by running Brady Tkachuk with Shane Pinto as his centre, while Stützle and Giroux continue to play on a line with speedster Mathieu Joseph, who is just one game removed from a dominant two goal performance against his former club.
• Jake Sanderson and Artem Zub find themselves paired up again today after both returned from injury this week.
• Puck drop is at 7EST and the game can be watched on TSN5 or RDS. You can also follow along on TSN1200.

Stats