Ottawa Senators @ Detroit Red Wings – 4/1

#UPDATED#

Happy April Fool’s Day everyone! Ok folks, let’s not over think this game. Both of these teams are obviously bad. Ottawa ranks 29th in the league in goals per game, Detroit ranks 18th. Ottawa ranks 23rd in goals against per game, Detroit is dead last. But there are talented players on both sides that can score when the situation is right. The ice hockey game being played at Little Caesar’s Arena in beautiful downtown Detroit, Michigan fits the bill.

Mads Sogaard will be making his first career NHL start tonight. At 6 foot 7 inches, he is admittedly Koskinen-esque. The Mads Man has a 16-13-1 record with a 2.87 GAA and .906 SV% in the AHL this year. Not exactly dominant ratios. Maybe the 21 year old Dane will have a future in this league, but I don’t expect much from him tonight. The Red Wings have a competent forwards group in Dylan Larkin (62 PTS), Tyler Bertuzzi (54 PTS) and Lucas Raymond (50 PTS), as well as future star rookie defenseman Moritz Seider (44 PTS). It’s quite realistic to think that this group can sneak 3-4 goals past the Ottawa goal tender making his NHL debut.

On the Ottawa side, the Sens are one of the lowest scoring teams in the league, led by Brady Tkachuk with 47 points on the campaign. They only have two players on the active roster with 20+ goals in Tkachuk (23 G) and Joshua Norris (26 G). However they have scored 3+ goals 6 times in their last 10 games. And as previously stated, Detroit gives up the most goals per game in the league. The three goalies the Red Wings have started this year have put up a combined .895 SV% and 3.47 GAA. As of this writing they haven’t announced a goalie (Thomas Greiss will be “available” according to HC Jeff Blashill), but it really doesn’t matter who starts in the crease. Rest assured, pucks will be flying in to the net. Likely 3-4.

My Pick: Over 6 goals. I would play it at over 6.5 which most books have at this point.

Bonus Pick: Dylan Larkin o0.5 goals. Larkin is Detroit’s leading goal scorer and has only scored once in his last 5 games. I like him to find the back of the net against a goalie making his first career NHL start.

Result: It was 1-1 at the end of the second period, but we got there! Sadly no goal for Larkin. Let’s chalk it up to Detroit’s putrid 0-5 power play performance.