Senators at Wild
It was the same old story for the Ottawa Senators during Monday’s 7-5 loss to Florida as they’ve had no problem scoring goals this season, sitting tied for first in the league with 75, but can’t keep the puck out of their own net having given up a league-leading 88. The Senators will hope for a better defensive effort Wednesday when they visit the Minnesota Wild to begin a four-game road trip.
Senators center Matt Duchene added two goals and an assist Monday to move into a tie with Pittsburgh’s Evgeni Malkin for fifth in league scoring with 27 points, but the 10-year veteran knows that scoring is just half the battle when you’re looking for wins. “Allowing seven goals is not good enough,” Duchene told reporters. “Half of that is not even what we want to be giving up. We can tighten up and be better there.” Zach Parise is on pace for 37 goals this season - which would be his most since 2009-10 - after he potted the Wild’s only goal in their 3-1 loss to the Blackhawks on Sunday. Center Mikko Koivu and defenseman Matt Dumba extended their point streaks to four games as they assisted on Parise’s power-play marker in the second period.
TV: 8 p.m. ET, Sportsnet 360 (Ottawa), FS North (Minnesota)
ABOUT THE SENATORS (9-9-3): Craig Anderson gave up six of Florida’s seven goals in less than two periods Monday before being pulled, bumping the netminder’s goals against average to 3.78 – his worst since his rookie season with the Blackhawks in 2003. Thomas Chabot is doing the best he can to help Senators fans forget Erik Karlsson as the 21-year-old was tied for the league lead in assists by a defenseman with 19 (San Jose's Brent Burns) entering Tuesday and is one point away from tying his total output from last season (25). Ottawa looks like they made the right decision on draft night when they took Brady Tkachuk with the fourth pick as the teenage rookie scored another goal Monday, giving him 10 points in his first 10 NHL games.
ABOUT THE WILD (12-7-2): With their loss to Chicago, the Wild lost consecutive games in regulation for the first time this season after dropping a 3-2 contest to Buffalo at home on Saturday. “It’s a good thing we’re not accustomed to losing two in a row,” Parise told the media. “But now you just have to make sure it’s not three in a row.” Minnesota can take solace knowing that the opportunities are there as they scored only three goals in the two losses but outshot the Blackhawks 40-28 and the Sabres 39-29.
OVERTIME
1. The Senators are giving up 5.6 goals per game over their last seven away from home - six of which have been losses.
2. Duchene and teammate Mark Stone are tied for the league lead in November scoring with 16 points apiece, two more than Montreal’s Max Domi. More impressively, the pair are not playing on the same line.
3. Minnesota’s penalty killing ranks third in the NHL at 84.9 percent while Ottawa sits last at 68.2 percent.