The San Jose Sharks will host the Ottawa Senators tonight, for the Sens one and only visit to the Shark Tank this season. The Senators are in a similar boat to the Sharks. The team is sporting at 9-11-1 record coming into this game. The Senators snapped a five game losing streak on Monday, when the team beat the Calgary Flames 4-3. The Sharks have a slight advantage when it comes to recent games. San Jose is 3-4-3 in its last ten while the Senators are 3-6-1.
This season is not turning out how the Senators had hoped. The team had hoped to be in the mix for the playoff spot or at the very least, playing more competitive hockey in the spring. As it stands now, the only thing keeping Ottawa in any of the playoff conversation is the fact that the rest of the Atlantic Division isn’t doing well. Ottawa is seventh in the division in points with 19, but is only five points out of the third spot, which is currently held down by the Tampa Bay Lightning (24 points).
That said, it sounds like Senators management is looking to shake things up. Defenseman Artem Zub is on LTIR with a fractured foot. That leaves the Senators testing out a young prospect to try and fill the hole left in the lineup.
Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun reported that the Senators are in “aggressive” pursuit of a defenseman to fill the gap left by Zub’s injury.
League executives have told Postmedia in the last 24 hours that GM Steve Staios has been aggressive in his pursuit of another defenceman. With the news about Artem Zub's fractured foot today, those efforts will likely be stepped up. The club doesn't have a lot of depth. #Sens
— Bruce Garrioch (@SunGarrioch) November 25, 2024
What’s more, it sounds like Josh Norris might be on the trade block. According to The Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli, Norris’ name is at the top of the list if the Senators are looking to shake things up.
“Look, he’s got a number of years left on his deal. Five after this one. The injury history is certainly significant, but if you’re going to start to make changes, you’ve got to begin to attack some of the core that’s been there for a long time that hasn’t had some success. And Norris would be one of those guys that jumps to the top of the page,” said Seravalli on the Daily Faceoff Live earlier this week.
The Senators leading scorer is Tim Stutzle. He has 25 points in 21 games for the Senators. Brady Tkachuk is the team’s top goal scorer with 11 goals. Tkachuk also has 50 penalty minutes this season. Adam Gaudette and Drake Batherson are close to double digits in goals with nine apiece.
San Jose Sharks lines tonight
It sounds like Mikael Granlund is out again tonight, according to San Jose Mercury News’ Curtis Pashelka. This is what San Jose Hockey Now’s Sheng Peng reports the lines are expected to look like with Mackenzie Blackwood starting.
#TheFutureIsTeal lines at morning skate, Granlund is on the ice, but he didn't participate:
— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) November 27, 2024
Eklund-Celebrini-Zetterlund
Kunin-Wennberg-Toffoli
Goodrow-Sturm-W. Smith
Kostin-Dellandrea-Grundstrom
Walman-Ceci
Ferraro-Liljegren
Thrun-Rutta
Forwards
William Eklund – Macklin Celebrini – Fabian Zetterlund
Luke Kunin – Alex Wennberg – Tyler Toffoli
Barclay Goodrow – Nico Sturm – Will Smith
Klim Kostin – Ty Dellandrea – Carl Grundstrom
Defense
Jake Walman – Cody Ceci
Mario Ferraro – Timothy Liljegren
Henry Thrun – Jan Rutta
Goaltenders
Mackenzie Blackwood
Vitek Vanecek
Ottawa Senators lines against San Jose Sharks
For the Senators, former Shark Noah Gregor is in the lineup and David Perron is out. Linus Ullmark is expected to start in net.
According to TSN1200 Ottawa, this is what the morning skate lines looked like.
Sens lines from the morning skate.
— TSN 1200 Ottawa (@TSN1200) November 27, 2024
(No Cousins)
Tkachuk-Stützle-Gaudette
Giroux-Norris-Batherson
Reinhardt-Pinto-Greig
Gregor-Ostapchuk-Amadio
Sanderson-Hamonic
Chabot-JBD
Kleven-Jensen
Sebrango
Forwards
Brady Tkachuk – Tim Stutzle – Adam Gaudette
Claude Giroux – Josh Norris – Drake Batherson
Cole Reinhardt – Shane Pinto – Ridly Grieg
Noah Gregor – Zack Ostapchuk – Michael Amadio
Defense
Jake Sanderson – Travis Hamonic
Thomas Chabot – Jacob Bernard-Docker
Tyler Kleven – Nick Jensen
Goaltenders
Linus Ullmark
Anton Forsberg
How to watch Ottawa Senators at San Jose Sharks tonight
The puck drops at 7:30 p.m. PT/10:30 p.m. ET at SAP Center. You can watch the game on NBC Sports California. You can listen on the Sharks + SAP Center app.
Senators fans can watch the game on TSN5 or RDS or listen on TSN 1200 or Unique FM.
If you’re out of market, you can watch the game on ESPN+.