Senators at Red Wings
The Detroit Red Wings are heading into a favorable portion of their schedule with 12 of the next 15 games at home, a stretch they will kick off against the visiting Ottawa Senators on Monday night. The Red Wings are coming off a 4-1 setback in Toronto on Saturday that spoiled their bid for a perfect three-game road trip and will be seeking to avenge a 3-1 defeat at Ottawa on Nov. 4. Detroit forward Pavel Datsyuk has missed half of the team's 20 games, including the past three with a groin injury.
The Senators have struggled since an early-season four-game winning streak, falling for the ninth time in 14 games (5-5-4) after Saturday's 3-2 home loss to the St. Louis Blues. A chance for an abrupt turnaround doesn't appear promising as Ottawa begins a five-game road trip that features a rematch at St. Louis on Tuesday and concludes with matchups at Tampa Bay and the New York Islanders - two of the top clubs in the East. The Senators and Red Wings split four meetings last season, with the away team winning each time.
TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, FSN Detroit, RDS (Ottawa)
ABOUT THE SENATORS (9-6-4): Backup netminder Robin Lehner has acquitted himself well in back-to-back starts, but he has been torched for 15 goals in four appearances against Detroit and could find himself back on the bench. Inconsistent starter Craig Anderson made 31 saves in the victory over the Red Wings earlier this month, the start of an impressive three-game stretch in which he permitted only two goals. However, the 33-year-old Anderson struggled during Ottawa's 0-2-1 road trip through Western Canada, surrendering 11 goals in the three starts to fall to 2-3-1 away from home.
ABOUT THE RED WINGS (10-4-5): If there's a silver lining to Datsyuk's latest injury, it's the production of Detroit's revamped second line featuring the red-hot Tomas Tatar alongside Justin Abdelkader and Riley Sheahan. Tatar accounted for the Red Wings' lone goal against Toronto - his fourth tally in three games - and has scored eight times in 11 games to tie Gustav Nyquist for the team lead with nine. “Yeah, they’ve been really great for us,” Detroit captain Henrik Zetterberg said. “Those guys played really good for us last year. Maybe didn’t have the start that they wanted but they’ve been on fire here lately."
OVERTIME
1. Tatar has points in five straight games and seven of eight.
2. Senators F Bobby Ryan is riding a four-game point streak.
3. The Red Wings own the league's top penalty-killing unit (90.1 percent) and have snuff out 14 man-advantage chances over the past four games.