The Penguins took 2 of 3 on the California trip, but none of it was clean. They blew a 2-0 lead in the 3rd in San Jose when Macklin Celebrini and Mason Marchment scored, and they lost 5-2 to Anaheim between the wins. The defense corps is producing, though. Pittsburgh's blueliners have 56 points, 2nd in the league behind Colorado, with Erik Karlsson and Kris Letang still running the back end and Sam Girard scoring early in San Jose.
The schedule favors Pittsburgh a little. The Senators flew in off an overtime home game against Colorado with 1 day between games. The Penguins came home from the West Coast with 2 days to reset. Neither team plays again before puck drop at 7:00 PM ET, so there are no other games to change the picture before Saturday.
Ottawa's injuries are mostly at left wing. William Eklund is out 10-12 weeks after ankle-tendon surgery, Warren Foegele is out with a knee, and Andre Burakovsky is on IR. Nick Cousins, who scored the late tiebreaker against Utah, is now listed out too. Pittsburgh is missing Bryan Rust, who won't be re-evaluated for 6 weeks, plus Elmer Soderblom and 2 defensemen, Ryan Graves and Trevor van Riemsdyk. That's a lot of missing depth for a team that has already had trouble protecting leads.
On paper, Ottawa is the better team. The Senators are 5 games over .500 and keep finding a winning goal late. Pittsburgh is under .500 and was outscored 11-4 in the Boston and Anaheim losses. Still, a defense corps that scores, a young goalie playing well and a big home night are enough to keep this close.
