The Ottawa Senators will face a tough test on Saturday afternoon as they host the streaking New York Rangers. New York is by far the hottest team in the league and are riding a 7 game winning streak and sit 4 points up on Washington for first in the Metropolitan Division.
The Senators are coming off a win over the Canucks on home ice, and look to build on that win against a quality team that could be considered among the early favourites for a shot at the Stanley Cup.
Jared Cowen didn't skate in practice on Friday and is questionable for the Senators, meaning Patrick Wiercioch's press box stay might be short-lived by default.
Dave Cameron also juggled the lines in practice and although not fully committing to using them against New York, he hinted that it was a definite possibility for "matchup reasons".
Here is what was tested on Friday, and with an early start on Saturday there won't be a morning skate:
Michalek - Turris - Stone Puempel - Zibanejad - Ryan Hoffman - Pageau - Chiasson Lazar - Smith - Neil
Craig Anderson will get the start, which is a little disappointing for me, but not necessarily surprising. As I have said before, I would have liked to see Hammond get to go on a run and get two 3 or 4 games in a row to see what happens then, but that goal with less than 30 seconds left might have made that more unlikely.
For the Rangers, Henrik Lundqvist has shed the "slow starter" label this season and is a stellar 9-2-2 with a 1.76 GAA and .946 SP, and caused a major scuffle when he tried to give his stick away to a fan earlier this week. Add to that the stopping of pumpkin pies and it has been a pretty interesting start to the season on and off the ice for the goalie. Lundqvist has not been confirmed as the starter yet, but if he doesn't, it doesn't get much easier when Antti Raanta and his 3-0 record to go with a 0.67 GAA and .976 SP get into action.
Rick Nash, holder of one of the highest goals - assists ratios in recent years (uncommonly called the Cy Young of the NHL), has had a role reversal early on this season, as he has just 2 goals but leads his club in assists with 8. Nash has had more assists than goals in just 4 of his 12 NHL seasons, which is really quite a feat to accomplish. He is one of the true pure goal scorers of his generation, along with Alex Ovechkin.
Other than the vast disparity in goaltending, there are some similarities between the Senators and Rangers. They are both opportunistic offensively (8th and 3rd in shooting percentage respectively), and are in the top 7 in goals per game while allowing at least 4 more shots on goal than they get per game
While the Senators have clawed their way to a respectable power play (20%), their penalty kill is pretty dreadful and third worst in the league, while the Rangers have the third best PK unit in the NHL (at least some of which can be attributed to goaltending). Lundqvist's shorthanded SP is .898 while Anderson is just .836.
Ottawa has had troubles in afternoon games in the past but were 5-2 last season in games starting before 5:00, winning their last 5 in a row. They also scored 7 goals on two separate occasions in matinees.
This one should certainly be a challenge for the Senators, and if the Rangers have their "A" game going they will be tough to beat. Other than their middling power play, NYR are among the top 3 in most meaningful categories and truly one of a handful of teams that have been truly dominant in the opening 5 weeks of the season. Ottawa can show something in this game, and it doesn't necessarily have to come in a win.