Ottawa Senators vs Carolina Hurricanes: the Visiting Team to Win the Battle of the Young and Promising

Ottawa defeated Carolina in their first head-to-head game of the season, 3:2. Will Roderic Brind'Amour's team get revenge in the upcoming confrontation? Check the teams’ conditions and expert betting tips. Several betting options are available!

Ottawa continues to go through a rebuilding period, which seems to be coming to an end. The regular season shows that there is still a need to strengthen the squad. The representatives of Ontario gave a dismal start to the season, winning only four games in 20 meetings, which immediately put themselves in the most challenging position. Gradually the results of the Senators began to improve. They won nine times in the next 16 games, but it has not significantly improved. Now D.J. Smith's squad occupies the penultimate spot in the Eastern Conference standings, a tremendous distance from the playoffs.

Carolina has already survived the rebuilding period and is now a potent squad, capable of interfering in the Stanley Cup battle. The Hurricanes lacked stability in the opening stages of the regular season, but now they are in good shape, which is immediately reflected in the results. In the last 17 meetings, Rod Brind'Amour's wards managed to get 13 wins and four losses, which is a perfect result. Sure, they have suffered setbacks as they did in their games with Columbus and New Jersey - 0:6 and 4:7, respectively. Overall the Red and Black have few problems. Carolina is currently in fifth place in the Eastern Conference standings but has some games in hand.

Ottawa and Carolina are in good shape. The only difference is that that means a casual win for the Senators, no more than that. After all, they are the NHL outsiders, while the Hurricanes are claiming the lead in the East, winning four of their last five meetings. The team from Raleigh is in a stronger position, and their skill level is much higher. As a result, we're forced to bet on Carolina's victory with a handicap (-1.5).

Carolina and Ottawa are two young and feisty teams that are not inherent in playing cautious and defensive hockey. On the contrary, they are often frantic in their attacks, occasionally making mistakes near their net. All that is borne out by the statistics, which show that the Hurricanes have scored 234 goals (6.00 goals per game average) in 39 games, while the Senators have allowed 228 shots on goal (6.33 goals per game average) in 36 games. Based on this, the optimal choice for the prediction seems to be a total over (6).

Vincent Trochek joined the Carolina lineup two years ago. Still, his debut will be disappointing, as the Hurricanes were relatively short in the playoffs, and the American himself had modest personal statistics. After that, however, he managed to make some serious progress, as evidenced by his numbers. In 39 meetings in the regular season, the 28-year-old hockey player scored 28 points (10 goals + 18 assists), which shows that he's in good shape. Therefore, it's worth looking at the bet on the total over 0.5 points by Vincent Trochek.