After a four day break, the Ottawa Senators will return to the ice tonight for action against the defending Stanley Cup Champion St. Louis Blues. Game time is 7:30PM at the Canadian Tire Centre.
The Blues, who lead the Central Division with a 2-0-1 record to start the 2019-20 season, are a bit of an interesting case. On the one hand, it might seem daunting for the winless Senators to go up against the division-leading Champions; on the other hand, however, some of the Blues' underlying numbers early on this year leave plenty of reason to think that this game may not be out of reach.
Case in point: St. Louis is rocking a team-wide shot attempt share of 44.76% and expected goal share of just 38.73%, as per Natural Stat Trick. Those are dismal numbers, with the Senators being better in both categories. Of course, nobody expects that trend to continue for the Blues, but it does suggest that Ottawa may be able to catch them off guard while they still work through some early season struggles.
Specific to the Senators, and with there being no morning skate today, we are left to piece together the expected lineup based on practices earlier in the week. Here are the lines from yesterday’s skate:
Wednesday morning lines in no particular order. (They are the same as yesterday)
— TSN 1200 (@TSN1200) October 9, 2019
Abramov-Pageau-Sabourin
Tkachuk-White-Ennis
Duclair-Tierney-Ryan
Namestnikov-Anisimov-Brown
Extra-Boedker
Chabot-Zaitsev
Brannstrom-Hainsey
Borowiecki-DeMelo
Goloubef
Assuming those practice lines form the actual lines tonight, one of the things I will be watching closely is the performance of Vitaly Abramov. Abramov, who was called up shortly after the demotions of Drake Batherson and Filip Chlapik, will be making his season debut this evening after a very strong training camp and preseason. Playing him alongside Scott Sabourin is… a choice that was made, but if offensive chemistry can form between Abramov and Pageau, it would be a big boost for the Senators moving forward.
Another thing to watch this evening is Anders Nilsson’s showing in net. The Senators probably deserved a better fate in their last game against the New York Rangers, but untimely goals against ultimately let them down. If Nilsson can provide better than the sub-900 goaltending it got from Anderson in his two starts, this group will look a whole lot more competitive.
Lastly, tonight marks the debut of Vladislav Namestnikov in an Ottawa jersey. Acquired from the New York Rangers via trade this week, Namestnikov will have ample opportunity to make his mark as one of the more offensively gifted players on this roster. Here’s hoping that the energy that comes with there being a new face in the room propels this team to its first victory of the year.
As always, thanks for reading!