Ottawa @ Pittsburgh preview

Last Meeting ( Dec 8, 2018 ) Pittsburgh 1, Ottawa 2

The Pittsburgh Penguins limped out of the All-Star break with a porous performance against a last-place team before recording arguably their best of the season against a club on the fast track toward the Presidents' Trophy. The Penguins hope to continue that momentum on Friday when they host the league-worst Ottawa Senators, who own two victories over Pittsburgh this season.

"After a normal loss I don't think we have a meeting, but after a loss that important (a 6-3 setback to New Jersey on Monday) against a team that's lower in the standings, we needed to answer and I think it was to make sure everybody was ready to go," defenseman Kris Letang said following Wednesday's 4-2 win over Tampa Bay. The 31-year-old Quebec native scored his 108th goal to tie Paul Coffey for the most by a defenseman in Penguins history and boosted his point total to eight (three goals, five assists) in his last five games. Although Letang converted on the power play to open the scoring in the first encounter with Ottawa, the Senators netted the next five goals en route to a 6-4 win on Nov. 17 and Ryan Dzingel tallied 1:20 into overtime of a 2-1 victory on Dec. 8. The 26-year-old Dzingel scored and set up a goal in Ottawa's last contest -- a 3-2 loss to Arizona on Jan. 22 -- to lift his point total to 13 (seven goals, six assists) in his last 11 games.

TV: 7 p.m. ET, TSN5, RDS (Ottawa), AT&T SportsNet-Pittsburgh

ABOUT THE SENATORS (19-26-5): Mark Stone, who leads the team in goals (22) and points (50), scored twice in the first meeting with Pittsburgh before notching a pair of assists in the second while defenseman Thomas Chabot (team-high 29 assists) scored a goal and set up two others in the two contests. Matt Duchene, who collected two goals and an assist in the first encounter with the Penguins, has five of each over his last eight games to move within three of Stone for the team lead in points. Bobby Ryan has recorded a point in nine of his last 11 outings, although he was held off the scoresheet and recorded a minus-2 rating in the meeting with Pittsburgh.

ABOUT THE PENGUINS (27-17-6): Matt Murray, who turned aside 33 shots versus the Lightning, owns an 11-2-0 mark and has allowed two goals or fewer in nine of the 13 starts since returning from a lower-body injury that sidelined him for nine games. The two-time Stanley Cup-winning goaltender received an early hook after yielding three goals on 10 shots in the first period of the loss to Ottawa in November. Phil Kessel has three goals and an assist in his last four games overall and 34 points (15 goals, 19 assists) in 29 career home contests versus the Senators.

OVERTIME

1. Ottawa C Colin White, sidelined since Jan. 10 with what is believed to be a shoulder injury, is expected to return to the lineup for Friday's game versus Pittsburgh.

2. Penguins D Justin Schultz joined the team in Thursday's practice as he continues to work his way back from a significant lower leg injury sustained on Oct. 13.

3. The Senators' seven road wins this season are the second-fewest in the league (New Jersey, six).

PREDICTION: Penguins 5, Senators 2