The playoff battle in the Eastern Conference continues this afternoon as the Ottawa Senators visit the Pittsburgh Penguins for the first time at PPG Paints Arena. This is the halfway point of the regular season for the Senators once this game concludes with 41 games remaining.
When the Penguins were in Ottawa, they lost in overtime, putting the Senators up 1-0 in the regular season series. Both clubs have four wins in their last ten games, and are outside that wild card spot. The Senators need to score in this game as the Penguins have the 32nd goals against per game.
Noah Gregor remains out after being hurt against Buffalo. Matthew Highmore and Zach MacEwen have both been recalled. Perron; Ullmark; Bernard-Docker; Hamonic; and Amadio remain on the shelf.
Evgeni Malkin remains questionable for the Penguins as he missed his first two games of the season.
Anton Forsberg continues to start for the Senators in Ullmark’s absence against the Tristan Jarry.
Projected Lineups
Pittsburgh Penguins
Rickard Rakell -- Sidney Crosby -- Bryan Rust Michael Bunting -- Cody Glass -- Anthony Beauvillier Drew O'Connor -- Kevin Hayes -- Jesse Puljujarvi Matt Nieto -- Blake Lizotte -- Noel Acciari
Marcus Pettersson -- Kris Letang Matt Grzelcyk -- Erik Karlsson Owen Pickering -- P.O Joseph
Alex Nedeljkovic Tristan Jarry
Scratched: Ryan Shea, Ryan Graves
Injured: Philip Tomasino (lower body), Evgeni Malkin (upper body)
Ottawa Senators
Brady Tkachuk -- Tim Stutzle -- Ridly Greig Claude Giroux -- Josh Norris -- Drake Batherson Zack Ostapchuk -- Shane Pinto -- Nick Cousins Cole Reinhardt -- Adam Gaudette -- Zack MacEwen
Jake Sanderson -- Artem Zub Thomas Chabot -- Nick Jensen Tyler Kleven -- Nikolas Matinpalo
Anton Forsberg Leevi Merilainen
Scratched: Maxence Guenette, Matthew Highmore
Injured: David Perron (upper body), Michael Amadio (concussion), Jacob Bernard-Docker (high ankle sprain), Linus Ullmark (back), Noah Gregor (lower body), Travis Hamonic (lower body)
Players to Watch
Pittsburgh — Erik Karlsson — 31 points leads all Penguins’ defensemen this season and has him on Team Sweden in the upcoming Four Nations tournament next month.
Ottawa — Claude Giroux — the former Flyers’ captain dealt with the Penguins plenty in his career. In 68 games, he has 73 points against the Pens, including 21 goals and 52 assists; however, only 9 assists in 9 games as a part of the Senators against Pittsburgh. During the cold stretch, he has only had a goal and assist in the last seven games. The pending unrestricted free agent needs to find his groove.
Predicted Final Score
PIT — 2
OTT — 5