Pittsburgh Penguins Visit Senators in Canada’s Capital
The Pittsburgh Penguins visit the Ottawa Senators for the final time this season tonight, looking to close in on home-ice advantage.
Tonight the Pittsburgh Penguins take their final trip to Canada’s capital city of the season. The hottest team in the league will look to take down the Ottawa Senators and move two points closer to securing home-ice advantage in the playoffs.
The Pens and Sens have met twice this season already, both in Pittsburgh and both ending in wins for the home team. The first time they shut out the Senators 2-0 while the second meeting was more of a struggle, in a back and forth 6-5 game.
Marc-Andre Fleury was in net for both of those games, but he’s still out with a concussion and won’t be in the lineup. The Penguins have not named a starting goaltender yet, but in all likelihood Matt Murray will get the nod.
He’s coming off a spectacular weekend that saw him backstop the team to two wins and a playoff berth, getting his first NHL shutout in the process. As long as Murray doesn’t feel overextended, it makes sense to run with him and his hot glove.
Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby scored the game-winners in those games, but Malkin is still out of the lineup as well.
The Pens’ play lately has not been lacking without him, though. They have been nothing less than dominant and with the reward in sight, don’t expect that to stop tonight. The Sens are eliminated from the playoffs but that doesn’t mean they can be overlooked.
As we’ve seen before, even under Mike Sullivan’s leadership, the Penguins have a tendency to look through games that should be easy wins. When they do that, they fall off their game and get taken advantage of.
For example: their last meeting against the New Jersey Devils, a 3-0 shutout loss.
The Penguins are 12-1-0 in their last thirteen games, that singular loss coming again from the Devils game. All lines are contributing, the special teams are effective, and the defense is surging. It’s hard to imagine the Pens losing right now, as long as they don’t underestimate their opponent.
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Ottawa’s captain, defenseman Erik Karlsson, is a perennial Norris Trophy nominee and the best player on the team. With Kris Letang generating Norris buzz of his own, it will be an interesting matchup between the two commanding offensive defensemen.
The Pens have so much depth that it’s impossible to guess who will stand out the most. Crosby will always be one to watch, but it seems like Justin Schultz may be due for a goal soon. Patric Hornqvist has three goals in his last three games, and the veteran duo of Eric Fehr and Matt Cullen can’t be overlooked. The second line is lethal.
If the Penguins win this evening, they’ll need only two more points to clinch second place in the Metropolitan Division and the home ice advantage that accompanies it.