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Game Day: Senators @ Capitals - to avoid a losing streak heading into bye |
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The Senators will be among the first teams to experience the new league mandated 5 day break, or "bye week", and that will come after one last piece of business in Washington, D.C.
After entering the Christmas break on a high, things haven't gone as planned in the last two games for the Senators, falling to the Rangers and then fighting for an overtime point against the Red Wings in an emotionally charged night that saw Daniel Alfredsson's jersey get raised to the rafters.
I won't call this one a "must-win" because there are now 4 teams within 5 points of them, and they could find themselves in the middle of a dog-fight when they come back next Saturday to face the Caps again. Granted, they do have games in hand on most of their chasers, but it is more of a psychological thing to fall behind them in the standings and have to win those games in hand to keep pace. They have spend the first 36 games putting themselves in a pretty good position, it would be a shame to let a 3 game losing streak over the holidays put a damper on that.
Zack Smith continues to sit out with an abdominal strain, meaning the sixth member of the top six is still a revolving door. The obvious solution is to put Mike Hoffman back in that spot, but the continued trial to put Tom Pyatt there is confusing. Pyatt definitely brings some positive things to the game, and I get the effort to spread the offense around three lines, but the Senators aren't deep enough without Smith to do that, so the onus is on Guy Boucher to load up 2 lines and run with that.
The Capitals will be playing their third game in four days, after taking 3 out of 4 points in a Thursday/Saturday home and home set against the Devils. After losing 2-1 in a shootout on Thursday, the Caps put the hammer down and scored 6 on Saturday in a 6-2 win. Phillippe Grubauer played on Saturday meaning it will likely be Braden Holtby between the pipes against the Senators.
The Capitals and Senators are both among the top 10 in terms of points percentage, but they have done it in different ways. The Senators have sort of done it almost by mirrors, having allowed more goals than they have scored, while the Capitals have scored six more goals than the Senators, but allowed 22 fewer.
Surprisingly, Washington's power play has not been their friend as of late, going 0 for 15 in their last 5 games, while their penalty kill has been outstanding, 24 for 24 in their last 6 games, including 9 for 9 on Saturday.
Not surprisingly, Alex Ovechkin leads the Caps with 17 goals, and Nicklas Backstrom leads them with 30 points, but neither one are in the top 30 of NHL scoring, which is surprising.
Meanwhile, the Senators special teams play has been a little Jeckyll and Hyde, going through stretches where wither one unit or the other is clicking, periods where both are clicking and periods where neither works. Whether that is cause or effect of the roller-coaster season to date is up for debate.
Ottawa Senators Blogger • 
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