I don't even know what to say about yesterday's game. That is one that will be talked about for years to come, and hopefully that is the worst game of the season. The Senators looked so disinterested in playing even after Buffalo had already scored five or six goals. There was no push-back whatsoever, and I felt bad for Mike McKenna, who obviously was quite terrible himself but was also hung out to dry for six goals.
Here is what Guy Boucher had to say on the game:
"Nobody in the world wants to be embarrassed. At anything. The teaching thing is very easy on that one. Whether you are old or young, whether you are a media person, a coach, a plumber...if things don't work out you are embarrassed. You are not happy and you want to do better, so that's the thing we know is there for sure, today. The easier times (to teach) is when you get a shellack. It's not very hard to get back on track."
That felt like a game from 2017-18 because of the lack of intensity. Up until that game, the Senators had felt a bit different this season, even though they clearly aren't a good team yet. Nevertheless, they will try to bounce back against one of the best teams in the league today---the Tampa Bay Lightning
Ottawa is at least playing Tampa Bay at home, but this matchup on the second half of a back-to-back will be incredibly difficult. The Lightning are coming into this game with an Eastern Conference best record of 9-3-1, and are 5-2-0 in their past seven games. They also sit 6th in both goals for per game and goals against per game, while the Senators are 11th and 31st in those categories, respectively.
Ottawa will certainly be in tough tonight, as Tampa Bay can beat you in so many different ways.
Here is how the Senators lines will look:
Dzingel-Duchene-Stone
Paajarvi-Tierney-Ryan
Paul-White-Boedker
McCormick-Pyatt
Chabot-DeMelo
Lajoie-Ceci
Wideman-Jaros
Borowiecki
Anderson starts
I like keeping the three best forwards together (the UFA line), although all of the other forward lines look extremely underwhelming, especially the fourth "line." Brady Tkachuk could return as soon as Thursday, which will be a huge boost for the offense. Furthermore, Ottawa could definitely use another young player in the lineup like Filip Chlapik.
The top defense pairing of Chabot-DeMelo continues to play well, and it's nice to see that Ceci isn't necessarily going to always get top pairing minutes. I'm not sure why Erik Burgdoerfer is up right now and why he played yesterday, because he clearly is not an NHL talent. He's out of the lineup today in favour of Borowiecki, although I really don't like having 11 forwards and 7 defensemen.
Here is how the Lightning will line up:
Miller-Stamkos-Kucherov
Gourde-Point-Johnson
Killorn-Cirelli-Joseph
Erne-Paquette-Callahan
McDonagh-Stralman
Coburn-Sergachev
Koekkoek-Girardi
Domingue starts
Even without Ondrej Palat and Victor Hedman, Tampa Bay's lineup is still incredibly lethal. Unsurprisingly, Tampa Bay's special teams have been very good so far, as they rank 6th on the powerplay and 1st on the penalty kill. Meanwhile, the Senators sit 10th on the powerplay and 29th on the penalty kill. So the Lightning have the clear advantage in that regard.
Although the Lightning are much better than the Sabres, I feel like this game will be much closer than yesterday. I mean, it'd be hard to replicate a sad performance like that, and I think the Senators will have a good response. That doesn't necessarily mean they will win, but it could be a close game at least. With the talent disparity between these two teams, that's all you can really ask for.
Puck drop is at 7:00 EST, be sure to follow along during the game in the comments section!