Ottawa Senators @ New Jersey Devils - January 19, 2025

As the fans settle into their seats at the Prudential Center for tonight’s matchup between the Ottawa Senators and the New Jersey Devils, there’s an electric atmosphere buzzing with anticipation. Both teams are coming in with contrasting recent performances that could heavily influence this game.

New Jersey, currently favored in this encounter, has experienced a bit of a rough patch lately. Coming off a disappointing 3-1 loss to the Flyers at home, they’ll be eager to reverse their fortunes. Their offensive stats reveal a team capable of generating opportunities—averaging just over three goals per game on nearly 30 shots—but execution has faltered recently as seen in their last outing. With a shooting percentage hovering around 11%, they need to sharpen up when it comes to capitalizing on those chances. Notably, they have an impressive power play conversion rate of over 28%. If they can leverage that aspect against Ottawa’s struggling penalty kill, which sits below 79%, they stand a good chance of finding the back of the net.

Ottawa enters this contest riding high after securing a thrilling 6-5 victory against the Bruins. While their overall record isn’t stellar, they’ve managed to string together three consecutive wins and seem to be finding some rhythm offensively despite averaging just under three goals per game themselves. What stands out is that they’ve been able to score effectively during power plays at just over 23%, making them dangerous when given opportunities.

Defensively, both teams present vulnerabilities. New Jersey boasts slightly better save percentages and penalty kills than Ottawa but have allowed more recent goals than one might expect from them based on earlier season trends. The total has gone UNDER in eight of New Jersey’s last nine games—a testament to their defensive resilience coupled with inconsistent scoring performance.

Given all these factors heading into tonight’s game, my prediction leans towards New Jersey emerging victorious but not without its challenges. I see them winning by virtue of home ice advantage and needing this win more than ever; however, it’s plausible that Ottawa will keep it competitive enough to cover the spread due to their current momentum and improved form.

As for the Over/Under line set at 5.5—considering both teams’ tendencies toward lower-scoring affairs lately—my hunch is that we’ll end up seeing another UNDER tonight as defenses tighten and scoring opportunities dwindle amidst heightened playoff stakes as we head deeper into the season.

So gear up for what should be an intriguing clash: a Devils team looking for redemption against an assertive Senators squad eager to continue their streak on enemy ice!