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Nashville Predators at Ottawa Senators

Sat Oct 107:00 PM ETESPN+Ottawa, ON
By JR·2 min read
Predators(2-1-1)
Senators(3-1-0)
Saturday 10/107:00 PM

TLDR: Ottawa has won 3 of its first 4 while missing more than half its regular defense. Nashville comes into Canadian Tire Centre on Saturday as the next team to find out whether that holds up.

SAT 10/10, 7:00 PMESPN+
Predators
(2-1-1)
WLWL
Senators
(3-1-0)
WLWW

Nashville finishes a 3-game Canadian road trip in Ottawa after beating Montreal 5-2 on the strength of a 3-goal 3rd period. Ottawa is 3-1-0 despite playing without Jake Sanderson, Artem Zub and, last time out, Cameron Crotty on defense. The game probably comes down to how many of those defensemen come back and who Nashville puts in net, with Saros having started every game so far and Matt Murray up from the AHL as his only backup.

Nashville Predators
  • Scored 3 unanswered in the 3rd at Montreal
  • Saros bounced back after allowing 5 in Toronto
  • Ottawa's blue line missing up to 3 regulars
  • Annunen on IR, AHL recall Murray the only backup
  • Bourque and Trudeau both day-to-day
  • Allowed 5 in Toronto earlier on this trip
Ottawa Senators
  • 3-1-0, winning tight games without top defenseman
  • Sanderson injury called less serious than feared
  • Zub back skating at Thursday's morning skate
  • Sanderson, Crotty and Zub all unavailable last game
  • Burakovsky on IR, Eklund day-to-day up front
  • Gave up 5 in Detroit on back end of a back-to-back

Saturday's game is the last stop of a Nashville trip through Canada that started with a 5-4 loss in Toronto and turned around in Montreal. The Predators were tied 2-2 at the Bell Centre and then scored 3 unanswered in the 3rd to win 5-2. That's the version of this team worth paying attention to: they stayed patient and got stronger as the game went on, against a Canadiens team that has now allowed 5 or more 3 nights in a row. One caveat is that Montreal was missing Ivan Demidov, Kaiden Guhle, Oliver Kapanen and Sam Montembeault, so it wasn't a full-strength opponent.

The goaltending is the bigger question for Nashville. Juuse Saros made his 4th start of the season in Montreal, and the club had to recall Matt Murray from Milwaukee to back him up after Justus Annunen went on injured reserve with a practice injury. Saros was 1-1-1 with a 2.95 GAA and a .907 save percentage before that bounce-back night. He's carrying the whole workload so far, and Nashville hasn't said whether he gets this one too or whether Murray gets a look. Mavrik Bourque and William Trudeau are both day-to-day, and neither has a clear answer yet either.

Ottawa is coming off a 2-1 home-opener win over Philadelphia. The Senators scored in the 1st and 3rd and held on after the Flyers tied it in the 2nd. Linus Ullmark started that one, and it was a tight-checking game the defense could survive. It also raised a fair question: how long can this team keep winning 1-goal games with the blue line it has right now?

That injury list is the story on Ottawa's side. Jake Sanderson left the 3-2 win in Toronto in the 1st period, missed Boston, Detroit and the Flyers, and Travis Green said before the Detroit game that he wouldn't return on that road stretch. Green also called the injury less serious than feared. Now that the Senators are home, Sanderson is back in the picture, but he's still listed out and skipped Thursday's morning skate. Cameron Crotty was a late illness scratch against Philly, and Artem Zub is still on IR, although he skated Thursday morning. Whether 1 or 2 of those 3 come back changes what Nashville's forwards get to work with on Saturday.

Nashville Predators
(2-1-1)
10/08W@Canadiens5-2
10/06L@Maple Leafs4-5
10/04WvsStars2-1
10/02LvsWild1-3
Ottawa Senators
(3-1-0)
10/08WvsFlyers2-1
10/06L@Red Wings3-5
10/05W@Bruins4-1
10/03W@Maple Leafs3-2

Ottawa's start has been sturdier than its roster. Road wins in Toronto and Boston came before a 5-3 loss in Detroit, which was the back half of a back-to-back, and then the Senators ground out the Flyers. Nashville has gone 2-2 in its last 4 and won its last game, but it's 1-1 on this trip and still working out its goaltending. Puck drop is 7:00 PM ET. It's an early-October game between 2 clubs trying to prove their starts are real.

Nashville Predators at Ottawa Senators — Predators Finish Their Canadian Swing Against a Short-Handed Senators Blue Line | Polymarket Odds · Barstool Bush