Utah Hockey Club @ Ottawa Senators - January 26, 2025

As the fans settle into their seats at Canadian Tire Centre, they’re in for an intriguing matchup between the Ottawa Senators and the Utah Hockey Club. The Senators enter this game as -145-moneyline favorites, a reflection of their recent form where they’ve managed to string together three consecutive wins. Meanwhile, the total opened at 6.5 goals, which is indicative of both teams’ scoring capabilities.

The Senators have averaged 2.7 goals per game this season with a shooting percentage hovering around 9.8%. Their offensive zone presence is solid, sitting at 51.5%, which suggests they are often able to generate chances close to the net. However, what’s particularly noteworthy is their power play efficiency; they convert on about 22.2% of their opportunities, scoring roughly 0.7 power play goals per game.

Defensively, Ottawa has shown resilience with an impressive save percentage of 89.8%. They also boast a penalty kill rate of 78.3%, meaning they can effectively limit opponents’ scoring chances when down a man.

On the other side of the ice, we have the Utah Hockey Club who come into this contest after suffering a defeat against Winnipeg (5-2). Despite that setback, Utah’s offense has been slightly more prolific than Ottawa’s with an average of nearly 2.9 goals per game and a higher shooting percentage at around 10.7%. Their power play is comparable to Ottawa’s at approximately 22.4%, but they score fewer power play goals overall—about 0.6 per game.

Defensively, Utah has been decent too; their save percentage stands just shy of Ottawa’s at 89.6%, while their penalty kill sits slightly higher at 81.3%. This indicates that while both teams have strengths in goal prevention strategies, neither team is invulnerable.

Given these statistics and trends leading up to this matchup, I predict that Ottawa will emerge victorious tonight based on their current momentum and home advantage—but it won’t be without its challenges from Utah’s offense.

In terms of covering spreads: although underdogs typically cover if they pull off an upset win—here I believe Utah will manage to keep it competitive enough to cover despite falling short on the scoreboard.

As for total goals scored in this match-up? Given both teams’ recent performances—the likelihood leans toward an UNDER outcome given that Ottawa has seen UNDER results in eleven out of twelve games recently played while Utah tends to fluctuate between OVERs and UNDERs but faces tougher defensive opposition today.

To sum it up: expect a tight contest where Ottawa takes home two points but not without some resistance from Utah Hockey Club who should manage to keep things close enough for spread coverage—and don’t count on many fireworks as we anticipate another low-scoring affair!