Senators at Coyotes
The Ottawa Senators continue their surprising surge toward first place in the Atlantic Division on Thursday as they aim for their fifth straight victory when they continue their three-game road trip against the Arizona Coyotes. Ottawa trails Montreal by four points for the top spot in the Atlantic with two games in hand thanks to Wednesday's trek-opening 5-2 triumph in Dallas.
Viktor Stalberg and defensemen Cody Ceci and Fredrik Claesson each recorded a goal and an assist as the Senators remained four points ahead of Boston for second place in the division. Arizona, which will miss the postseason for the fifth consecutive season as it sits 18 points out of the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference, continues a four-game homestand that began with a 2-1 loss to Carolina on Sunday. The Coyotes have won three of their last five at home and can even their season record at Gila River Arena at 15-15-3 with a victory over Ottawa. The Senators rolled past Arizona 7-4 at home Oct. 18 as captain Erik Karlsson was one of five players to register a goal and an assist.
TV: 9 p.m. ET, TSN5, RDS2 (Ottawa), FSN Arizona
ABOUT THE SENATORS (37-22-6): Karlsson was kept off the scoresheet Wednesday, marking just the third time in 13 games he failed to record a point. The 26-year-old Swedish defenseman leads the team with 47 assists and 58 points in 65 contests. Craig Anderson likely will receive a well-deserved night off Thursday after making 35 saves against the Stars for his 146th victory with Ottawa — tying Patrick Lalime for first place on the franchise list.
ABOUT THE COYOTES (23-35-7): Radim Vrbata leads the team with 48 points and has set a career high with 33 assists. The 35-year-old Czech recently reached the 600-point plateau and will be playing in his 1,000th NHL game Thursday. "I'm happy that it's worked out this way," Vrbata told the team's website regarding reaching the milestone at home. "It will be special that it will be here, where I've spent probably half of my career. This is where I've had the most success personally. It worked out well."
OVERTIME
1. Coyotes D Oliver Ekman-Larsson has recorded just one point in his last nine contests following a five-game streak and has not scored a goal since Feb. 2.
2. Ottawa D Marc Methot had his assist streak halted at two games Wednesday, leaving him two shy of 100 for his career.
3. Arizona RW Tobias Rieder is one goal away from eclipsing the career high of 14 he set last season.