The Ottawa Senators have played four of their first five games of the 2024-25 season at Canadian Tire Centre. In the only road game played this season, the Senators struggled against the Montreal Canadiens.
Salt Lake City and the state of Utah has rallied around their Utah Hockey Club after re-locating from Arizona after last season. For the first time ever, the Senators will play in a brand new environment that has been tough so far on visitors.
Senators say "hello" to Utah for the first time ever
The Senators travel to Delta Center to play the Hockey Club with puck drop at 9:15 p.m. ET. It is the first of three games on the Senators' West Coast road trip.
The Senators are coming off of winning two of their past three games at home against the Los Angeles Kings and the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Senators won 5-4 against the Lightning in their previous game on Saturday afternoon. On the entire home stand, the Senators scored 14 goals and improved to 3-2-0 on the season.
Josh Norris was phenomenal on the home stand with scoring three goals and Brady Tkachuk has scored a powerplay goal in the past two games. Even without Linus Ullmark in between the pipes for the past three games, the Senators still found a way to win two games.
As for Utah, they have been one of the biggest surprises this season with currently sitting in third place in the Central Division with a 4-1-1 record. The move to Utah has brought a huge spark of new energy and hope compared to when they were playing in Arizona as the Coyotes.
Already creating a tough environment for opposing teams, Utah has won both of its games at home. Utah's captain Clayton Keller leads the team with eight points, and 21-year-old Dylan Guenther leads the team with five goals. Last season when they played in Arizona, they swept the season series against Ottawa.
Road struggles from last season carried over for Ottawa when they played in Montreal in the first road game of the season 10 days ago. If Ottawa is going to continue to ride its momentum from the three-game home stand, they have to be able to win on the road. A tough Utah environment offers a good test for them in the second road game of the season.