Minnesota Wild @ Ottawa Senators : Gameday Preview
The Ottawa Senators are looking to extend their impressive home record tonight as the Senators are set to face the Minnesota Wild at the Canadian Tire Center. The Senators are coming off a solid Tuesday night victory over division rivals the Detroit Red Wings. A strong first period helped the Senators get that extra bounce it needed, especially after Saturday night’s trashing at TD Garden. The Minnesota Wild lost their first home game of the season to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday and will be without their leading scoring, Zach Parise tonight due to a concussion.
Ottawa (6-3-2)
VS
7:30 PM Puckdrop – The Canadian Tire Center
TV: FS-N, RDS, TSN5
Radio: TSN 1200
Matchup History:
Last season the Senators and Wild only faced each other twice. Each earning a win to split the two game series. The Senators won 3-0 back on January 14th, 2014 and the Wild won back on November 20th 2013, by a score of 4-3.
Players to Watch:
Minnesota – Ryan Suter- Defencemen
Number one reason he’s the Wild’s number one player to watch, is because he’s on the ice for half the game! Ryan Suter last year posted some elite numbers when it came to ice time and it’s no different this season. Averaging 28:59 minutes of ice time this year the Minnesota Wild’s all-star defencemen continues to play against the NHL’s elite, shutting down the opposition like no one else.
Ottawa – Erik Karlsson – Defencemen
It would be fitting to have the Senators best player marked down as tonight’s most important player to watch. Sitting third in the league in average ice time per game, Ottawa’s Erik Karlsson will see a lot of Ryan Suter at the other end of the ice. This marquee match up will be a treat to watch. Erik Karlsson will face Suter’s defence for most of the game and will dictate how well the Senators offense can settle the puck in the Wild’s zone.
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With the absence of Zach Parise, the Wild will promote Thomas Vanek to the first line
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As much as we love to boo Matt Cooke, he too won’t be playing in tonight’s game
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The Senators are set to face another back up goaltender in Nicklas Backstrom
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The Senators are still undefeated at home in regulation (3-0-2)
– Good news coming from the organization, Mike Hoffman, Mark Stone and of course Curtis Lazar were all told to find a new place. They’ll be staying in Ottawa all season
Ottawa Senators vs Minnesota Wild Stats – Head to Head
Tonight’s Lineups
Ottawa Senators
Forwards
MacArthur – Turris – Ryan
Michalek – Zibanejad – Chiasson
Smith – Legwand – Neil
Hoffman – Lazar – Stone
Defence
Borowiecki – Karlsson
Cowen – Ceci
Wiercioch – Gryba
Goaltenders
Anderson
Lehner
Minnesota Wild
Forwards
Vanek – Granlund – Pominville
Zucker – Koivu – Coyle
Niederreiter – Haula – Fontaine
Veilleux – Brodziak – Carter
Defence
Suter – Brodin
Scandella – Folin
Prosser – Dumba
Goaltenders
Backstrom
Kuemper
Stats chart provided by Sportingcharts.com and NHL.com
Lineups from the Sens gameday journal on OttawaSenators.com