Face-off: 1900 ET, 08/02/2022
Venue: Canadian Tire Centre
Ottawa face a tough test when taking on Metropolitan Division leaders Carolina but their recent form has been very encouraging.
The Senators have also held their own in two previous head-to-head meetings this season, winning 3-2 away in December and only going down by the same scoreline in a shootout at home last month.
We reckon 1.91 for the hosts with 1.5 goals start on the spread is worth support in our Ottawa Senators vs Carolina Hurricanes predictions.
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Ottawa Senators Odds
Ottawa gave us a couple of successful selections when beating New Jersey 4-1 at Canadian Tire Centre last night to make it 6-4-2 from a dozen outings.
Connor Brown marked his comeback from 10 games out with a broken jaw with a goal and an assist as the Senators came from behind to hand the Devils a seventh straight loss.
Head coach DJ Smith beamed: “He’s only had one practice, so once he started to get a feel for it, he made some plays and then ultimately he scores at the end there and seals it.”
Nick Paul also had a goal and an assist, while in-form netminder Matt Murray extended his hot streak to 5-0-2 with 32 saves.
Nikita Zaitsev and Dylan Gambrell put in decent shifts when returning from injury, so it was a good night all round for Ottawa.
This will obviously be a harder task but the Sens are playing with enough spirit to at least keep it tight again.
Looking at the NHL odds, we like 2.25 for under 5.5 goals to be scored.
Carolina Hurricanes Odds
Carolina are also backing up after going down 4-3 in overtime at Toronto, who were registering a sixth consecutive victory.
Nino Niederreiter, Tony DeAngelo and Derek Stepan netted for the Hurricanes as they led 3-2 halfway through the third period.
However, Mitchell Marner tied things up and then settled the issue in extra time to continue his great run of form.
Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour was upbeat in defeat, stating: “It was a good game. I thought we played well. I’m not disappointed at all in our effort or anything.
“Give the players credit on both teams. It’s a dead building and these guys played hard. I thought it was a good game.”
To be fair, that did feel like a higher-quality affair than Ottawa’s match, so the Hurricanes are regarded as worthy favourites to shade this contest.
Let’s finish off our NHL predictions by taking 11.0 for Carolina to claim another 3-2 success in what has been a hard-fought series.
Additional stats
Last result:
OTTAWA 4-1 New Jersey
Toronto 4-3 CAROLINA (OT)
Head-to-head: Ottawa 2-3 Carolina, Carolina 2-3 Ottawa
