Ottawa Senators at Pittsburgh Penguins
Ottawa is on one of those streaks again where they just can’t keep the puck out of their own net. In their last five games, the Sens have allowed 20 goals against and been outshot in each game. The power play has been able to find itself in that stretch of games going 4-for-13 overall, but they also have given up four power play goals against in return so their net special teams effect is zero. Craig Anderson has again reverted back to being barely average after a solid month of December: since January 1st, Anderson has a .911 save percentage and allowed 33 goals against in 12 games. In short, everything with regards to keeping pucks out of their own net is going wrong right now.
The Penguins lost 3-1 on Saturday to the Phoenix Coyotes but there’s good reason to think that the Penguins won’t repeat that performance: Pittsburgh hasn’t lost two games in a row since late November.
While Brian Gibbons had been seeing a lot of time on the top line with Sidney Crosby the last couple of games, the lineup blender came out in that Phoenix game: Jayson Megna, James Neal, Gibbons, and Brandon Sutter all found time on the top line with Crosby and Chris Kunitz in that Phoenix game. In other words, there still hasn’t been anyone that has been able to consistently stay on the top line in Pittsburgh since Pascal Dupuis’ injury.
The only time these two teams have faced off this year resulted in Pittsburgh’s biggest loss of the season, a 5-0 loss in Ottawa two days before Christmas. The Sens gave Pittsburgh seven power plays in that game. If that repeats itself, the Penguins should bury Ottawa tonight.
Top RW Value |
Top LW Value |
Top C Value |
Top D Value |
Bargain Bin |
Jayson Megna (PIT) $2859 |
Chris Kunitz $13,260 |
Jussi Jokinen $9803 |
Matt Niskanen $9187 |
(OTT) $5808 |