Dany Heatley is back in Ottawa tonight, which should make for an exciting game. You can expect to hear a lot of boos from the Scotiabank crowd, but I don’t expect this to affect Dany Heatley or the game this evening.
The Sharks are in unfamiliar territory, sitting in 12th place in the West so they will be looking to come out of the gate hard tonight in this, their first game of a 5 game road trip. The Sharks are (4-4-2) on the road this season and this record will have to improve if they want to move out of last place in the Pacific division. I still consider the Sharks a good team and I expect a solid game out of them this evening.
The Senators haven’t been playing well of late and to make matters worse they are deciding to start Pascal Leclaire in net. Leclaire is (1-5-1) so far this season and it just seems like the team, Leclaire included, find ways to lose when he is between the pipes. The Senators are quickly dropping further out of the playoff race in the Eastern Conference and they will need to turn things around soon, but I personally do not think that Leclaire is the answer. Spezza is another problem on this team because he has only 2 points in his last 10 games, and for a team that is struggling for offense, it is very important that your top offensive players step up and put the puck in the net.
Both of these teams should be able to turn it around and make the playoffs this season, but only one team is able to win the game tonight and I believe that the Leclaire factor will come to play and the Sharks will pull out a victory to start their road trip.
My Pick: San Jose Sharks -120 @ TheSportsbook.com
Written by: Niko de Jonge
ottawa senators • San Jose Sharks