Game 8 Preview and Open Thread: Ottawa Senators @ Dallas Stars

**Editor’s note: I’m very excited to announce the addition of two new staff members to Silver Seven this week. This morning’s preview is from one of our new additions, Shaan Malik. Some of you may know Shaan from his time in our comments section as freshprinceof4thline. It’s also Shaan’s birthday today (!!) so please join me in extending him a warm welcome! — nkb**

It’s safe to say that after seven games, the Ottawa Senators have been what we all expected them to be.

Despite a poor 1-5-1 record, most of their games have been against cup-contending teams such as the Blues and Golden Knights, two teams Ottawa was close to beating last week. They finish a three-game road trip today against a team that, unlike the Senators, has failed to meet expectations so far.

Tonight’s opponent, the Dallas Stars, began the campaign hoping to be among the aforementioned contending teams, but thanks to a horrendous 2-7-1 start they instead find themselves as an early rival of ours for the 1st overall pick at the upcoming draft. This is happening due to a lack of quality goaltending, their top forwards not producing as expected, and an absence of secondary scoring with the exception of Roope Hintz.

It goes without saying that both of these teams are hungry for a win today, and the hungrier of the two will likely leave with the two points.

Here are the projected lines for your Ottawa Senators:

Tkachuk - Pageau - Brown
Namestnikov - White - Duclair
Ennis - Tierney - Ryan
Paul - Anisimov - Boedker

Chabot - Zaitsev
Brannstrom - Hainsey
Borowiecki -DeMelo

Nilsson

Game Notes:

• Jordan Szwarz was reassigned to Belleville yesterday and J.C. Beaudin was recalled this morning. Artem Anisimov will likely draw back in to the lineup; if he’s not ready to play then Beaudin could play tonight.
• It took twenty-three grueling attempts but the Senators finally have a power play goal! One more and they’ll have scored as many as they have shorthanded.
• Perhaps separating Brady Tkachuk and Colin White will be good for them. The two began Saturday’s game playing with Vladislav Namestnikov and the trio were vastly outplayed. DJ Smith altered his lines after the 1st period, replacing Tkachuk with Anthony Duclair and playing the former with Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Connor Brown. Both lines played better than before, especially in the 3rd when they evened up the shot attempts.
• Despite the fact that Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin have combined for only 3 goals and 6 assists in 10 games, the Senators need to be defensively sound tonight; things could turn ugly fast if the usually dynamic duo is given a chance to find their game.
• It’s impossible to predict the quality of goaltending the team will get from Anders Nilsson on any given night. Not what you want from an NHL starter but the Senators will only benefit from performances like the one he had against Vegas. He’ll be a sieve on some nights, but he’ll also steal some games this season.
• Today’s battle of the basement starts at 8:30 PM EST, and can be watched on FS-SW, TSN5 or RDS, or listened to on TSN 1200./

Stats

All stats from NHL.com, except for Corsi/Fenwick from NaturalStatTrick.com

Player Stats

* Miro Heiskanen, Tyler Seguin, Jamie Benn, Alexander Radulov, Mattias Janmark

Team Stats