It's the second night of a back-to-back and after falling to the Ducks last night in Anaheim the Senators will look to right the ship against the Kings tonight.
In the midst of a tough stretch losing five in a row and the injuries are piling up, things are not getting any easier for the Senators. After losing Josh Norris, Travis Hamonic, and Zack MacEwen to injuries last week, the Senators may now be without Thomas Chabot and Matthew Highmore who both suffered injuries last night and are being evaluated before game time. In anticipation that the Sens may be without a few skaters, they recalled Jiri Smejkal and Max Guenette this morning while also re-assigning Mads Sogaard to Belleville with a healthy Korpisalo and Forsberg back in the fold.
Not a group to make excuses be on the lookout for the Senators leadership group, including Tim Stützle likely donning an 'A' tonight in Chabot's absence, to set the tone. Though they didn't get the result they wanted last night, the physical presence of Brady Tkachuk and the sheer will to try to tie the game from Tim Stützle on several grade A chances, could not be ignored. Look for them to pick that up again as they try to get an early edge.
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The Kings seem to have found their footing again after a little skid around the NHL All-Star break, they are now 6-3-1 over their last ten with wins over some of the leagues elite, such as the Canucks and Bruins. However, the Canucks got their revenge in the Kings last outing, downing them 2-1 in overtime at Crypto.com Arena. The Kings will look to rebound and hold onto their tie breaker with the Vegas Golden Knights for the final Pacific Division playoff spot to avoid slipping to a Wild Card spot.
The Kings look like they will have to make do without one of their star players as Adrian Kempe will not dress tonight after suffering an upper body injury that has kept him out since Feb 26. Not a small hole to fill, Kempe is second on the team with 51 points this season, the Kings will lean on some of their other offensive weapons like Trevor Moore who paces the team in goals with 24 and is currently riding a three-game point streak with five points in that stretch.
The Senators will see some familiar faces on the other side tonight as it appears they are set to face former Sens goaltender Cam Talbot in net tonight. Additionally, this will be the first game that the Senators will see former head coach D.J. Smith who has taken a role as an Assistant Coach there.
