The Ottawa Senators face the New York Rangers in a rematch of Wednesday night's game where the Rangers won 3-1. The Senators have an 8-13-1 record and are in last place in the Atlantic Division. The Rangers meanwhile have an 11-9-4 record and have lost three of their last four games. Both teams are looking to improve within the division and the Eastern Conference and the upcoming game should be a good one as a result.
The Senators are having a rough season despite their offense stepping up and scoring 3.05 goals per game. Brady Tkachuk, Tim Stützle, and Claude Giroux have scored 26 goals and 41 assists to lead the top two lines but the rest of the offense has stepped up as well. Alex DeBrincat, Drake Batherson, and Shane Pinto have combined for 20 goals and 25 assists while defensemen Jake Sanderson and Thomas Chabot have added four goals and 16 assists from the point to open up the offense.
The offense has stepped up but the defense has been awful, allowing 3.36 goals per game including 20 goals in the last six games. Jake Sanderson and Travis Hamonic have combined for 2.1 defensive point shares and 68 blocked shots but the rest of the unit has been awful, allowing opponents to find open shots on the net at will. The bright spot has been the play of goaltender Cam Talbot who has a .918 save percen tage and a 2.57 goals-against average on 294 shots.