Game preview Ottawa Senators vs Pittsburgh Penguins

This is the first meeting of the year between the Ottawa Senators and the Pittsburgh Penguins. Both teams are depleted with injuries, so were up for an interesting outcome.

The focus on the Ottawa Senators this game is twofold. One, Pittsburgh will have to defend Duclair tight, so he doesn’t let loose and score. Two, Pageau has been quite hot lately so it will definitely by a challenge for Evgeni Malkin, who will be matched up against Pageau.

The Penguins are missing Sidney Crosby, Bryan Rust, Justin Schultz and Brian Dumoulin, so it will be interesting to see the different line combinations with the absence of so many key players.

Ottawa’s power play is functioning at a higher rate lately but is still not very efficient at a 11.6% clip. The Penguins on the other hand have a middle of the pack power play at 16.2%.

The Senators are supposed to be the worst team in the league, but their penalty kill has been surprisingly really good, the whole season so far. They’re at ninth in the league with a 82.3%, while Pittsburgh is worse at 81% for 14th in the league.

The Penguins have struggled a lot this year but are turning it up lately, even though many of their best players have been in and out of the lineup because of injuries.

The Senators must find a way to win on the road, as they have a road record of 5-13-3 which is simply not acceptable.

This is a good chance for them to change their fortunes on the road, with an injury ridden Penguins club.

On the other hand this is a great opportunity for Evgeni Malkin and other to seize the moment and score a lot, because the Senators don’t have much defense.

Either way it’s shaping up to be a great game, as it’s the only NHL game of the night. Puck drop is at 7:00 Eastern Time, in Pittsburgh.