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Game Day: Senators @ Penguins - Anderson returns for road trip

December 5, 2016, 11:48 AM ET [14 Comments]
Jared Crozier
Ottawa Senators Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
As the Senators sit in the third best 25 game start to a season in their franchise's history, they hit the road on what will be a telling four game road trip, starting in Pittsburgh.

They will have Craig Anderson in the lineup, as he is rejoining the team as was speculated Saturday night. Andrew Hammond was sent back to Binghamton as a result.

The Senators get their first look of the season at the defending Stanley Cup Champions. Pittsburgh sits in an identical spot in the Metropolitan Division as the Senators sit in the Atlantic, second place and through 25 games they sit just a point apart. The Penguins are coming off a win over the Red Wings where they scored four times in the third to erase a 3-1 deficit.

That plays counter to the Senators game plan, as they have been prone to taking parts of the game off, and if they do that against the Penguins and their quick-strike offense, it will not be a positive outcome.

The Pens have been involved in high-scoring games, as evidenced by their 80 goals for and 75 against as opposed to the Sens, who have 50 goals both for and against.

I said it is telling for the Senators, not so much in terms of wins and losses (which it does as well) but in terms of competing with the top end teams. A majority of the games so far have been against non-playoff clubs, and the Senators positive record could be a factor of that. Now the Senators face the Penguins, Sharks, Kings and Ducks (all current playoff teams) and then come home to face the Sharks again in their first game back.

One positive note to this schedule is that they actually have some off days, days that aren't either game days or post game days. They only had 2 "off days" since the beginning of November and after San Jose on Wednesday they have 3 off days in 8. That will give them time to breathe, and it doesn't hurt that some of those days come in California!

As usual, the Senators need to worry about the Pens dynamic duo, Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. Crosby leads the league with 16 goals (tied with Patrick Laine), and Malkin has points in 17 of his last 20 games.

After going 4 for 8 on the power play in their previous three games, the Senators were a dreadful 0 for 7 on Saturday against the Panthers, and will have to reverse that one if they are going to be able to run with the Pens, and that is entirely possible as the Penguins have one of the bottom five penalty kill units in the league.

Other than Anderson, there is no news yet on any other lineup changes, most notably whether Marc Methot will be able to return or if Andreas Englund will play his second game.
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