Game 73 preview: Pittsburgh Penguins @ Ottawa Senators

The Ottawa Senators will look to make it two games in a row when they host the Pittsburgh Penguins tonight. The Senators did not play that well against Boston on Tuesday, but thanks in large part to Craig Anderson came away with a 3-2 win. The Penguins were up to their usual trash boy selves led by captain trash himself but did win 3-1 in Buffalo on Tuesday.

Mark Stone will not return tonight but there is a ray of hope that Fredrik Claesson could return if Mark Borowiecki is too banged up to play. Mike Condon will start in net.

Here are the likely lines and pairings:

Smith - Turris - Ryan
Dzingel - Brassard - Burrows
Hoffman - Pageau - Pyatt
Stålberg - Kelly - Wingels

Methot - Karlsson
Phaneuf - Ceci
Borowiecki/Claesson - Wideman

Condon (starter)
Anderson

Some notes for tonight:

• Brent Burns is off tonight so Erik Karlsson has a chance to further close the gap on Burns. Burns has 70 points in 73 games while Karlsson has 66 in 72.
• Tonight could be the night that Bobby Ryan finally shatters the 25-point mark for the season.
• Mike Hoffman is on a four-game points streak with five points in that span. He has 14 points in 13 games since returning from injury.
• Ottawa is now 27-4-2 when scoring first.
• Karlsson is on pace for 75 points for the season. That would be the third highest total of his career.
• Despite missing seven games, Hoffman is on pace for 61 points which would be a career high. He is tied with Karlsson for the team lead with 24 power play points.
• I am not sure if it is just a coincidence or the Senators playing more conservatively with Condon, but Condon has faced 24 fewer shots than Anderson despite playing 132 more minutes.
• While the Penguins are a very dangerous team, they do allow the fourth most shots in the league. Hopefully it results in an Erik point or two.
• If the Leafs end up as the third seed and Ottawa avoids Boston, winning the division becomes a lot less important. I do want that division championship banner though...
• Kyle Turris needs two more goals to set a career high./

Here are some stats for the two teams tonight. All stats are from NHL.com except Corsi and Fenwick are from Corsica.