While the Senators have been heating up, the defending champs have lost four of their last five games.
Saturday Feb 24, 2024: Vegas Golden Knights (32-19-6) at Ottawa Senators (24-27-3), 7pm, (SN1, TVAS)
As they prepare to host the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday, the Ottawa Senators aren't planning to make any changes from their 4-1 win over Dallas on Thursday.
And after a high level performance like that, why would they?
"I think we played well against Dallas," assistant coach Jack Capuano said. "We only gave 'em 15 shots. Not a lot of chances. I think guys are starting to realize how to play without the puck. That's the biggest thing. We need numbers back, limit the odd man rushes, and limit the time in our own end."
That said, the Sens may be forced to shufffle the deck, thanks to a couple of game time decisions. If everyone is cleared, Hamonic will be a healthy scratch again. Anton Forsberg is expected to start for the third time in four games, as is Logan Thompson for Vegas.
Former Senator Mark Stone could be out for an extended period with an upper body injury (week-to-week) that's apparently unrelated to his surgically-repaired back. He was injured during Tuesday's game against Nashville. Stone is in his sixth season in Nashville but he's still the Senators' 11th leading all-time scorer, recently passed in the top 10 by his former tenant, Brady Tkachuk.
Eichel has missed 16 games and is expected to return on this road trip, but not tonight.
Vegas is scuffling right now, losing four of their last five games, giving up a combined 20 goals in those four losses.
Probable line combinations for Vegas:
Brendan Brisson - William Karlsson - Jonathan Marchessault
Ivan Barbashev - Chandler Stephenson - Michael Amadio
Paul Cotter - Nicolas Roy - Keegan Kolesar
Mason Morelli - Byron Froese - Sheldon Rempal
Alec Martinez - Alex Pietrangelo
Brayden McNabb - Shea Theodore
Nicolas Hague - Zach Whitecloud
Logan Thompson (expected starter)
Adin Hill
Scratched: Ben Hutton, Daniil Miromanov, Jakub Demek
Injured: Tobias Bjornfot (undisclosed), William Carrier (upper body), Pavel Dorofeyev (upper body), Jack Eichel (lower body), Brett Howden (upper body), Mark Stone (upper body)
Probable line combinations for Ottawa:
Mathieu Joseph - Tim Stutzle - Claude Giroux
Brady Tkachuk - Shane Pinto - Vladimir Tarasenko
Ridly Greig - Josh Norris - Drake Batherson
Dominik Kubalik - Mark Kastelic - Parker Kelly
Jake Sanderson - Artem Zub
Thomas Chabot - Jacob Bernard-Docker
Jakob Chychrun - Erik Brannstrom
Anton Forsberg (expected starter)
Joonas Korpisalo
Scratched: Travis Hamonic
No reported injuries