Senators Vs. Penguins: Tuesday Matchup Pits Two Teams Going In Opposite Directions

The flailing Pittsburgh Penguins face the Ottawa Senators at CONSOL Energy Center Tuesday night at 7:00 PM. The game will be broadcast on ROOT Sports.

The Penguins (21-15-4) are coming off four straight losses, and more importantly, they're missing a ton of key players - Sidney Crosby and Kris Letang have been out for a while, and they also just lost Jordan Staal and James Neal on top of that. Evgeni Malkin and Marc-Andre Fleury will have to help carry the Pens for the next few weeks, or they might fall too far out of contention for it to matter.

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The Senators (22-15-6) are 5-0-1 in their last six games, with Erik Karlsson piling up two goals and six assists during that time. Also, goalie Craig Anderson was recently named the NHL's Third Star Of The Week after stopping 25 or 27 shots against the Devils and 35 of 36 against the Lightning. Tuesday's game against the Penguins marks the beginning of a brutal 10-game stretch that features nine games on the road, including a West Coast swing that has stops in San Jose, Anaheim, Los Angeles and Phoenix.

For more on the Penguins, check out PensBurgh.