Ottawa Senators at Tampa Bay Lightning Preview and Game Day Thread

Ottawa Senators at Tampa Bay Lightning: GAME# 9

Time: 7:00 pm Eastern Time

Location: Amalie Arena

Broadcast/Streaming: BSSUNX

Opponent SBNation Site: Silver Seven

DraftKings Line: Lightning -1.5  O/U 6.5

Preview:

After a solid, if not spectacular, trip to California the Lightning return home to start off a November filled with games at Amalie Arena. Not only have they only played two games on friendly ice, they’ve only played one games against an Atlantic Division foe. That will change tonight starting with Ottawa. They then have eight more home games and three more games against the Atlantic. It’s also nice that they can go a couple of weeks without a back-to-back.

We will see if a slightly more set schedule can let them get into a rhythm. They are starting to show some signs of gelling into the team we kind of expected from them, having won four of their last five with the top line leading the way. They are still a work in process of sorts, having only put one complete game together (the 5-2 dismantling of Columbus). Special teams haven’t been all that special of late either.

They will be meeting an Ottawa team that has been up and down. The Senators lost their first two, won four in a row, then lost their next two. When their offense is on, they can ring up goals with the best of them as evidenced by the 22 goals scored in the four wins. However, if they don’t score, they don’t have the defense yet to win with 16 goals allowed in their four losses. They are allowing 3.38 goals per game overall, ninth worst in the league.

Their 3.75 goals scored per game is third best in the league and Brady Tkachuk is leading the way with 11 points (6 goals, 5 assists) in 8 games. His linemate Drake Batherson also has 11 points (3 goals, 8 assists) giving them a pretty potent top line. Twenty-two year-old Shane Pinto has been a big surprise, posting 6 goals in 8 games and giving them a little depth.

Depth is important to them right now as they are without Josh Norris and Artem Zub on injured reserve. Goaltender Cam Talbot has been out with broken ribs since the start of the season and the duo of Anton Forsberg and Magnus Hellberg haven’t been good enough.

Ottawa had some issues dealing with Florida’s forecheck and if the Lightning can pressure them deep in their zone they can get the cycle game going and cause some havoc.

Victor Hedman missed practice on Monday, but is expected to play in the game on Tuesday.

Comparison chart:

Tampa Bay vs. Ottawa Comparison

Tampa Bay Lightning

Forward Lines

Brandon Hagel - Braydon Point - Nikita Kucherov

Alex Killorn - Nick Paul - Steven Stamkos

Ross Colton - Vlad Namestnikov - Cole Koepke

Pat Maroon - Pierre-Edouard Bellemare - Corey Perry

Defense Pairings

Victor Hedman - Erik Cernak

Mikhail Sergachev - Nick Perbix

Ian Cole - Cal Foote

Goaltenders

Andrei Vasilevskiy

Brian Elliott

Ottawa Senators

Forward Lines

Brady Tkachuk - Tim Stutzle - Drake Batherson

Alex DeBrincat - Shane Pinto - Claude Giroux

Tyler Motte - Mark Kastelic - Mathieu Joseph

Parker Kelly - Dylan Gambrell - Austin Watson

Defense Pairings

Thomas Chabot - Erik Brannstrom

Jake Sanderson - Travis Hamonic

Nick Holden - Nikita Zaitsev

Goalies

Anton Forsberg

Magnus Hellberg

Lines updated following Ottawa’s morning skate