Sitting in last place, the Senators need to put together some wins before they start to drift away from the Atlantic frontrunners... again.
The Matchup: Tampa Bay Lightning (4-3-3, sixth in the Atlantic) at Ottawa Senators 4-5-0, last in the Atlantic)
Faceoff: Saturday, November 4th, 2023, 7 p.m. (SportsnetOne, RDS)
What's New? The Lightning – a perennial powerhouse – are not in a playoff spot to start the year. With the absence of Andrei Vasilevskiy to start the season, Jonas Johansson has been able to hold down the fort. The Lightning are coming off a 4-2 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday night. All their big guns have been playing to their usual level so far.
Nikita Kucherov, Brayden Point, Steven Stamkos, and Brandon Hagel are scoring at over a point per game clip.
Meanwhile, the Senators have had a tumultuous past two weeks off the ice, with the suspension of Shane Pinto, the loss of a first-round draft pick for messing up the 2021 Evgenii Dadonov trade, and the dismissal on Wednesday of General Manager Pierre Dorion.
The Senators have had plenty of bad news on the ice, too, winning only one of their last five games. They've lost three top defensemen to injury – Thomas Chabot, Artem Zub, and Erik Brannstrom – along with forwards Ridly Greig and Mark Kastelic, who were hurt Thursday night. Both will be out for the "foreseeable future," according to DJ Smith.
Both clubs have had very little trouble putting the puck in the net, with the Lightning scoring 3.2 goals per game (ninth in the NHL) and the Senators scoring 3.78 goals per game (fourth in the NHL). Both teams' problems lie in keeping the puck out of their own net, with the Lightning giving up 3.20 goals per game (19th in the NHL) while the Senators are giving up 3.22 goals per game (21st in the NHL). This game should provide plenty of offence for the fans at the Canadian Tire Centre on Saturday night.
The expected duel in the net will likely feature a battle of the namesakes (Jonas/Joonas). Jonas Johansson is scheduled to start in goal for the Lightning. Johansson has picked up where Vasilevskiy left off, holding a .922 save percentage this season. Joonas Korpisalo has been tremendous in his last 3 starts with a .932 save percentage despite going 1-2-0 in those games.
The History: These two teams battled each other earlier this year, resulting in a convincing 5-2 Senators win. Brady Tkachuk led the way with 2 goals, while Vladimir Tarasenko potted a goal and an assist. The Lightning did not play Johansson in the previous matchup, but instead, Ottawa faced Matt Tomkins in his first-ever NHL start. Tampa Bay hopes to get an extra save or two and a different outcome on Saturday. The Lightning haven't missed the playoffs since 2016-17, which is the last time the Senators made it.
The Lineups: With Greig and Kastelic out, Zack MacEwen and Roby Jarventie have been called up. Both were healthy scratches in Belleville's 6-3 loss to Springfield (D'oh!) last night. Jarventie has 3 points in 6 games in Belleville and he's set up for success, making his NHL debut between Claude Giroux and Drake Batherson. MacEwen has two goals with the B-Sens.
The Senators didn't have practice on Friday. Between injuries and rest days, Smith said the team did not have enough players to go through a full practice and would have only had eight forwards and four defencemen available. Erik Brannstrom practiced in a non-contact jersey for the first time since suffering a concussion on a scary hit against the New York Islanders last week. He is not expected to play Saturday night, nor is Artem Zub, who wasn't even at practice. Chabot will miss another month.
At Saturday morning practice, the lines were as follows:
Forwards
Joseph-Stutzle-Tkachuk
Batherson-Jarventie-Giroux
Kubalik-Norris-Tarsenko
Kelly-Chartier-MacEwen
Defence
Sanderson-Hamonic
Chychrun-JBD
Kleven-Matinpalo
Joonas Korpisalo was in the starter's end.