Penguins at Senators preview

PENGUINS (7-7-3) at SENATORS (8-8-3)
7 p.m. ET; SN, CITY, ATTSN-PT, NHL.TV

The 31-year-old center missed nine games with a lower-body injury sustained during a 9-1 win at the Calgary Flames on Oct 25. Brassard has five points (one goal, four assists) in eight games this season.
Brassard is returning to Ottawa for the first time since being acquired by Pittsburgh on Feb. 23 as part of a three-team trade that also involved the Vegas Golden Knights.
Brassard had 77 points (32 goals, 45 assists) in 139 games with the Senators.
Penguins center Sidney Crosby participated in the morning skate, but will miss his second straight game with an upper-body injury.
Goalie Matt Murray will start for Pittsburgh, who are 1-6-1 in their past eight games. Murray is 0-4-1 with a 4.54 goals-against average and .840 save percentage in his past five starts.
Goalie Craig Anderson will start for Ottawa, which as alternated losses and wins in its past six games. Anderson, who has played in 17 of 19 games this season, has won his past two starts.

Players to watch

Penguins forward Phil Kessel has five points (two goals, three assists) in a three-game point streak.
Senators center Matt Duchene has nine points (two goals, seven assists) in his past five games and is two points shy of 500 in the NHL.

They said it

"We believe in him. We trust him. We know he's a good goalie. He's a proven goalie, he's an accomplished goalie, and we believe that he's going to be the guy that's going to help us win games here."-- Penguins coach Mike Sullivan on goalie Matt Murray
"You look at the standings, the way they are right now, I feel like if we can get three, four wins together, we can climb up there and start to get right in the mix." -- Senators forward Mark Stone

Penguins projected lineup

Tanner Pearson -- Evgeni Malkin -- Patric Hornqvist
Jake Guentzel -- Derick Brassard -- Phil Kessel
Dominik Simon -- Riley Sheahan -- Bryan Rust
Derek Grant -- Matt Cullen -- Zach Aston-Reese
Jack Johnson -- Kris Letang
Brian Dumoulin -- Chad Ruhwedel
Olli Maatta -- Jamie Oleksiak
Matt Murray
Casey DeSmith
Scratched: Juuso Riikola, Daniel Sprong, Garrett Wilson
Injured: Sidney Crosby (upper body), Justin Schultz (left leg fracture)

Senators projected lineup

Mikkel Boedker -- Matt Duchene -- Drake Batherson
Brady Tkachuk -- Colin White -- Mark Stone
Ryan Dzingel -- Chris Tierney -- Bobby Ryan
Magnus Paajarvi -- Zack Smith -- Tom Pyatt
Thomas Chabot -- Dylan DeMelo
Max Lajoie -- Cody Ceci
Mark Borowiecki -- Chris Wideman
Craig Anderson
Mike McKenna
Scratched: Christian Jaros, Max McCormick
Injured: Jean-Gabriel Pageau (Achilles), Ben Harpur (undisclosed)

Status report

The Senators will dress the same lineup they did in a 2-1 win against the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday.

Stat pack

Sullivan will coach his 400th NHL game. … Chabot has no points in his past three games after he had nine points (two goals, seven assists) in a five-game point streak.