Expect Lots of Scoring as Senators Look to Rebound vs Canucks

The Ottawa Senators and Vancouver Canucks play the second leg of a three-game series on Wednesday night with the Sens looking for a big bounce-back. The Canucks crushed the Sens 7-1 on Monday in a much-needed win for Vancouver and the first blowout loss of the season for Ottawa.

Sportsbook Odds Analysis

The game opened with the Canucks as favorites at -150 and the line can now be found in the -145 to -155 range. The total is locked in at 6.5 with the UNDER favored in the -111 to -115 range.

Ottawa News & Notes

Although the lopsided score from Monday night might lead you to believe otherwise, the Senators actually had more total scoring chances (23-22) than the Canucks and had only one fewer high-danger scoring chance.

In fact, the Sens have had more total scoring chances than their opponent in three of their six games this season and have outshot their opponent three times. The problem for the Senators has been converting those chances. Ottawa has scored more than three goals in a game just once and its leading scorer is defensive defenseman Nikita Zaitsev, who has five assists.

To be fair to the Sens, they are a young team with a lot of new faces in the lineup. Two-thirds of their top line (center Josh Norris and winger Drake Batherson) have played a combined 58 NHL games in their careers.

In net, it has been a bit of a rough start to Matt Murray’s tenure in Ottawa as the new starter is 1-3-1 with a .862 save percentage and 4.47 goals-against average.

Vancouver News & Notes

After a rough three-game series in which the Canucks gave up 17 goals in three games to the Canadiens, Vancouver rebounded in a big way against Ottawa. Goaltender Thatcher Demko had his best game of the season, stopping 35 of 36 shots for a .972 save percentage in the win.

It was Demko’s first win of the season and he and Braden Holtby have now each played four games on the year. Demko is 1-3-0 with a .890 save percentage while Holtby is 2-2-0 with a .888 save percentage. Wednesday’s starter had not been announced at the time of writing.

Offensively, bettors should look for Canucks captain Bo Horvat to keep up his hot start. Horvat leads the team with five goals and 10 points in eight games, and is tied for fifth in the NHL scoring parade.

On the injury front, the Canucks have had several starting defensemen miss games this season and will likely be without Travis Hamonic and Jalen Chatfield on Wednesday.

Betting Pick: OVER 6.5