Penguins

Penguins Game 64 vs. Senators: Lines, Notes & How to Watch

Published

2 months ago

March 12, 2024

The Pittsburgh Penguins make a one-game road trip Tuesday to Ottawa to face the Senators. Not trying to pile on, but one of the teams has to come away with two points.

Wins have been elusive for both the Penguins (28-27-8) and the Senators (25-33-4), who are playing primarily for pride a this point.

Game Time

The game starts a little after 7 p.m.

Penguins Preview

The Penguins are in danger of falling back to .500 if they lose in regulation to a team sitting 10 points behind them in the Eastern Conference standings.

They also are looking to avoid their first four-game regulation losing streak of the season.

The bleak playoff picture for the Penguins looks like this: With 19 games left, they are 10 points out of third place in the Metropolitan Division, and eight points and five teams out of a wildcard spot in the East.

The Penguins have lost three games in a row and six of their past seven. They have scored a total of five goals in those six losses and have been shut out in three times, including a 6-0 pasting by the Edmonton Oilers on Sunday at home.

That six-pack gave opponents 29 goals in the Penguins’ recent six losses.

Based on the morning skate, it appears that forward Drew O’Connor could return from a concussion.

Kingerski: The Penguins are Crumbling From Within

Ottawa has lost seven straight games (0-6-1) and has fallen into a tie with Columbus for the bottom spot in the East, although the Senators have two games in hand on the Blue Jackets.

The Senators are returning home from an 0-2-1 western trip that concluded with a 2-1 loss Saturday at San Jose, a team tied for worst in the NHL.

While not in quite as much as a drought as the Penguins, Ottawa’s offense has been struggling, with 14 goals during its seven-game skid.

Expected Penguins Lines

Michael Bunting-Sidney Crosby-Bryan Rust

Reilly Smith-Evgeni Malkin-Drew O’Connor

Valtteri Puustinen-Lars Eller-Rickard Rakell

Emil Bemstrom-Noel Acciari-Jeff Carter

Defense

Marcus Pettersson-Kris Letang

Ryan Graves-Erik Karlsson

John Ludvig-P.O Joseph

Goalies

Tristan Jarry

Alex Nedeljkovic

Expected Senators Lines

Brady Tkachuk-Shane Pinto-Drake Batherson

Claude Giroux-Tim Stutzie-Mathieu Joseph

Ridly Greig-Rourke Chartier-Dominik Kubalik

Jiri Smejkal-Mark Kastelic-Boris Katchouk

Defense

Jake Sanderson-Artem Zub

Jakob Chychrun/Jacob Barnard-Docker

Max Guenette-Erik Brannstrom

Goalies

Joonas Korpisalo

Anton Forsberg

Penguins Special Teams

Penguins power play: 14.6%, 29th

Penguins penalty kill: 82.3%, 6th

Senators power play: 16.6%, 27th

Senators penalty kill: 73.7%, 30^th

Penguins Game Notes

The Penguins are 9-4-4 against Ottawa dating to March 23, 2017 but 0-1-1 against them this season. The Senators beat the Penguins 5-2 Oct. 28 in Pittsburgh and 5-4 in overtime Dec. 23 in Ottawa.

Penguins leading scorer Sidney Crosby has gone eight games without a goal and has four assists in that span, one assist for his only point over the past five games.

Crosby has 64 points in 63 games and so is close to being in danger of falling under a point a game on average.

Crosby has 57 points (19 goals, 38 assists) in 48 career games against Ottawa. He is one point from passing Jaromir Jagr for most points against the Senators in Penguins history.

Bryan Rust has 19 points (9 goals, 10 assists) in 19 career games against Ottawa.

Noel Acciari has eight points (7 goals, 1 assist) in 16 career games against the Senators, his most points against any opponent.