Game Day 5: OTT at EDM

The set up:

It's officially the mid-way point of the Senators five-game road trip as they take on the Edmonton Oilers at Rogers Place.

After dropping the first two game to start the road trip the Sens face a challenging opponent tonight as the Oilers are riding a six-game win streak and have gone 7-3-0 in their last ten. Led by Connor McDavid in the midst of another big season with 53 points, the Senators will be tasked with slowing down Edmonton's power play, the sixth best in the NHL converting 25% of their chances. 

Looking for tonight to be a turning point for thr road trip the Sens will have to get back to the structure that helped them beat Pittsburgh, Toronto and Buffalo recently. Offence has not been much of an issue for the Senators this season averaging 3.35 goals per game, just outside of the top-ten in the league. The key tonight will be emphasizing a 200 foot game while continuing to defend as a group of five, and limiting turnovers for odd-man rushes.

Roster report:

The Senators held an optional skate this morning so we did not get a full look at the lines. While Zack MacEwen was held out of the last game and yesterday's practice he skated this morning so be on the look for him to be injected into the line-up here tonight. Below is how the Sens skates yesterday during practice at Rogers Place:

Brady Tkachuk - Josh Norris - Drake Batherson
Vladimir Tarasenko - Tim Stützle - Claude Giroux
Dominik Kubalik - Ridly Greig - Parker Kelly
Jiri Smejkal - Mark Kastelic - Angus Crookshank

Jake Sanderson - Jakob Chychrun
Thomas Chabot - Artem Zub
Erik Brännström - Travis Hamonic

Who to watch:

The last time the Senators faced the Oilers back in March of last season, the Oilers walked away with the 6-3 victory. Though it wasn't the result they wanted, it certainly wasn't for a lack of effort, especially from Tim Stützle who scored twice that night.

Stützle has not been thrilled with his offensive output this season with only seven goals however since day one of this season he has preached that he doesn't care about personal stats so long as he's helping the team win. With that he has shifted his game a bit and leads the team in scoring as a result of his play making ability with 27 assists on the year. 

Stützle has made a habit this season of finding the back of the net when it matters most such as his walk-off overtime winners against Detroit and Pittsburgh earlier this season. In a game like tonight where puck movement is going to be so key look for Stützle to be trying to set up his teammates tonight as he also looks to get back on the score sheet himself

NHL All-Star Voting:

On Thursday evening we found out that Brady Tkachuk will be representing the Senators at the NHL All-Star Weekend in Toronto, marking his fourth trip to the event.

Now that each team has their representative it's time to select the final 12 who will join them. From Jan. 4 through Jan. 11 fans can vote for their favourite players to head to All-Star Weekend! Fans can submit their votes up to 10 times per day through the NHL voting website, or they can post #NHLAllStarVote followed by the player name of handle on X.

Last season Tim Stützle came close but was just short of being voted into the All-Star Weekend through the fan vote. As the points leader on the Senators he along with Jakob Chychrun, Claude Giroux, Drake Batherson, Jake Sanderson, and Josh Norris all make strong cases to join Brady in Toronto.

Submit your votes here for who you would like to see head to NHL All-Star weekend alongside Brady!

Where to watch:

Tonight's game will be carried 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.