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The Lafreniere/Byfield Cup |
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The Ottawa Senators will take to the ice on Tuesday night for what is undoubtedly their most important game of the young 2019-20 campaign to date. On the road in Detroit, the Senators are set to face off against the lowly Red Wings in the second game of The Lafreniere/Byfield Cup™. Ottawa is already 0-1 in the tournament, having beaten the Wings by a score of 5-2 back in late October.
Looking at the basement of the Eastern Conference standings, both the Senators and Red Wings are tied with 17 points each; however, it should be noted that Ottawa has two games in hand on Detroit. That these are the two teams sitting at the bottom in mid-November should come as a surprise to no one. Both are in the midst of rebuilds, and both have a dire need for the elite talent available in next year’s draft. That’s what makes games like this one so important, as the jockeying for lottery odds has already started.
The “unfortunate” thing for the Senators in this context is that they actually do a lot of things really well, or at least far better than anyone expected from them this season. They are getting stellar goaltending from Anders Nilsson, all while generating more than 50% of the expected goals at five-on-five per Natural Stat Trick. Nobody – and I mean nobody – expected that out of these Senators. It’s enough to give even the most cynical fan optimism about the future.
Detroit, for their part, enters this game on a little bit of a hot streak – with “hot” being a relative term in the case of rebuilding teams. Having earned points in five straight games, including wins over Boston and Vegas, the rested Red Wings may be coming into this contest with some confidence.
Assuming Monday’s practice is indicative of what we’ll see come puck drop, Ottawa will combat those hot Wings (pun intended) with lines as follows:
Anders Nilsson is expected to get the start in net.
As always, thanks for reading.
Ottawa Senators Blogger • 
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