Game Day 5: OTT at DAL

The set up:

The Senators continue their five-game road trip tonight as they are set to face off against the Dallas Stars in the second game of a back-to-back. After falling to the Blues last night the team will be hungry to pick up the win here tonight.

After a strong start to the season, Dallas finds themselves in an up and down period having gone 4-4-2 in their last 10 games. However, after three nights off the Stars will be energized and looking to finish this pre-Christmas stretch hot. The Stars currently boast six skaters with nine or more goals on the season, led by Joe Pavelski and Roope Hintz with 12 and 10 goals respectively. The 

The Senators are looking to regain some of the momentum they garnered during the four games before facing Carolina in which they beat the Kraken, Rangers and Red Wings. The top-six forwards production has been solid this season with all of them scoring 18 or more points on the season, led by Tim Stützle with 26 points in 24 games. On the blue line Jakob Chychrun and Jake Sanderson have exemplified shut down defence while also getting on the score sheet with 17 and 14 points each. 

With Zack MacEwen re-entering the line up tonight and Mark Kastelic back from injury look for the Senators to try to match Dallas' physicality tonight from the first puck drop.

Roster report:

Head coach D.J. Smith mentioned that Zack MacEwen would be entering the line up tonight and Rourke Chartier will move out. With that, Mark Kastelic will move to centre on that fourth line. With no morning skate today, below is how the team lined up against St. Louis last night:

Who to watch:

Through his 106 games as a Senator, Claude Giroux has built a reputation for when the team faces adversity he steadies the storm and shows why he wears the 'A.' As the team looks to turn the page after back-to-back disappointing losses, look for Giroux to provide the framework for how to get it done. 

On the season, Giroux has nine goals and 13 assists for 22 points, on pace for 31, 44 and 75 points all of which would statistically go on record as a top-five season for the 36-year old forward. Averaging a point per game over his last seven games, look for Giroux to put his stamp on this game and set the tone early.

Special teams test:

Perhaps the biggest key to Dallas' strength this season has been their electric special teams play.  Ranking seventh on the power play (25.0%) and fourth on the penalty kill (86.7%). Dallas is one of just three teams, along with the Golden Knights and Rangers, who rank in the top-10 in both categories. Led by Joe Pavelski with six of his 12 goals on the year coming on the power play, the Senators will be tasked with slowing him down while not leaving guys like Roope Hintz (4) or Jason Robertson (3) open to capitalize.

The Senators special teams have gone through ups and downs this year but as whole find themselves not at the level they would like to be. The power play currently ranks 22nd (17.2%) while the penalty kill ranks 28th (73.4%). However, prior to the games against the Hurricanes and Blues the penalty kill had been on fire having killed off 11/13 over the previous four games.

Perhaps the best vote of confidence these special teams could get would be standing tall against this electric Stars special teams group.

Where to watch:

Tonight's game can be found live on TSN5 and RDS in English and French respectively. Additionally, TSN1200 and Unique FM 94,5 have you covered on the radio with the English and French calls.