The Ottawa Senators wrap up their western road swing against the red hot Colorado Avalanche in what will be their first meeting of two on the 2024-2025 regular season. Gametime is slated for 9pm from Ball Arena.

With my workload balancing a team in the Metropolitan that already competed against the Avalanche, it was shocking to see the start Colorado had with a struggling netminder and a lack of production from the rest of the team.

The young depth of Nikolai Kovalenko, Matt Stienburg, and Ivan Ivan Ivan are learning on the fly with newcomers Parker Kelly, John Ludvig, Calvin De Haan, and Oliver Kylington.

Alexander Georgiev had been ice cold with allowing 3 goals or more in every start this season. His only win was on October 18th against the Ducks.

The three headed monster of Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen, and Cale Makar have 41 combined points on the season in 8 games contested.

Ottawa dropped their last game on Friday to Vegas, and are looking to avoid being an even 0.500 team.

The good news is Senators do have a healthy Linus Ullmark back in the crease.

The concern is some of the new additions have no production to date. David Perron (on personal leave), Nick Cousins, and Mike Amadio have goose eggs up front. On the defense, the only two guys to have scored a goal are Sanderson and Chabot.

The bad news is Shane Pinto is out week to week with an undisclosed injury, but it gives the depth the extra motivation for a full time spot in the show.

While it is great that the core has produced as a unit, it takes the whole team to make the playoffs.

While facing Kelly for the first time in a different uniform, they have a chance to break the Avalanche’s hot streak and keep themselves a step ahead in the Atlantic.

Projected Lineups

Colorado Avalanche

Ross Colton -- Nathan MacKinnon -- Mikko Rantanen
Nikolai Kovalenko -- Casey Mittelstadt -- Logan O'Connor
Miles Wood -- Parker Kelly -- Joel Kiviranta
Chris Wagner -- Ivan Ivan -- Matt Stienburg
Devon Toews -- Cale Makar
Samuel Girard-- Josh Manson
Calvin de Haan -- Sam Malinski

Justus Annunen
Alexandar Georgiev

Scratched: Oliver Kylington, Kaapo Kahkonen, John Ludvig

Injured: Jonathan Drouin (upper body), Artturi Lehkonen (upper body), Gabriel Landeskog (knee), Tucker Poolman (head)

Suspended: Valeri Nichushkin

Ottawa Senators

Brady Tkachuk -- Tim Stutzle -- Michael Amadio
Claude Giroux -- Josh Norris -- Drake Batherson
Noah Gregor -- Ridly Greig -- Nick Cousins
Cole Reinhardt -- Adam Gaudette -- Zack MacEwen
Jake Sanderson -- Travis Hamonic
Thomas Chabot -- Nick Jensen
Tyler Kleven -- Jacob Bernard-Docker

Anton Forsberg
Linus Ullmark

Scratched: David Perron, Mads Sogaard

Injured: Artem Zub (concussion), Shane Pinto (undisclosed)

Players to Watch

Colorado — Cale Makar — 15 points for a defenseman in 8 games is a strong start for the Norris revenge tour for the fourth overall pick of the Avalanche in 2017. Last summer, he was the runner up for the more deserved Quinn Hughes. But this season, he is making a strong push for personal and team hardware.

Ottawa — Adam Gaudette — one of the Travis Green children from Vancouver comes in tonight hot after getting two goals against Vegas on Friday. His first NHL goals since he was last a Sen in 2022. If he is the signal for the depth production for Ottawa, they will be able to be win.

Predicted Final Score

OTT - 5

COL - 3

More to come…


Editors Note - Zak here! I am assisting Hockeybuzz with additional content, and with family and friends in the Ottawa area, I am expanding my horizons and will be doing both the Sens and Blue Jackets here! The Ottawa market is one of my favorite places to be, as I have been around Parliament 2-3 times a year all my life, and am looking forward to sharing more of my work with you! Go Sens Go!

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