{"id":405304,"date":"2026-01-13T14:20:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-13T14:20:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/405304\/"},"modified":"2026-01-13T14:20:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-13T14:20:11","slug":"van-city-travels-to-the-nation-capital-ottawa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/405304\/","title":{"rendered":"Van City Travels to the Nation Capital, Ottawa"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>NHL Predictions:\u00a0Vancouver Canucks at Ottawa Senators<\/p>\n<p>Time: 7:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST), 4:00 p.m. Pacific<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/full-guide-for-how-to-stream-and-watch-nhl-hockey-games\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">How to Watch<\/a>: Sportsnet+, SN, ESPN+, NHL Centre Ice<\/p>\n<p>2025-2026 Season Series:\u00a0Ottawa 0-0 Vancouver (Series tied 1-1 last season)<\/p>\n<p>The Vancouver Canucks embark on the second game of a back-to-back against the Ottawa Senators. Both teams are struggling immensely, as they sit at the bottom of their respective conference standings. One team will leave here with a much-needed win, and the other will fall deeper into the hole they\u2019ve dug themselves in. The Canucks sit at 16-24-5 after 45 games, with 37 points, while the Senators sit at 20-19-5 after 45 games, with 45 points. Vancouver comes into this matchup having lost seven-consecutive games, while Ottawa has lost four straight. Needless to say, not ideal for either side.<\/p>\n<p>The Canucks Story<\/p>\n<p>Talk about a rough couple of weeks for this team. Having lost seven-straight games, they have also encountered news of <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/d\/demkoth01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-01-12_hr\">Thatcher Demko<\/a> and <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/s\/sherwki01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-01-12_hr\">Kiefer Sherwood<\/a> being injured. One could argue that those two are the most critical pieces of this hockey team, one being the starting goalie, the other being the top goal-scorer. This is a team that already struggles to put the puck in the net as well as defending, so if this is not some of the worst injury fate this season, we do not know what is. Coming off a lopsided loss to the Montreal Canadiens, they will look to snap their losing streak against the struggling Sens.<\/p>\n<p>The Senators Story<\/p>\n<p>The Senators have their own problems to worry about as well. Amidst <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2026\/01\/10\/nhl-rumours-fallout-from-latest-from-ottawa-senators-goaltender\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">rumours<\/a> of a fractured locker room and drama off the ice, Ottawa is at the bottom of the Eastern Conference. Their Stanley Cup Playoff hopes are slipping away, as they sit seven points out of the last Wild Card spot. They are 2-6-1 in their last nine games, getting outscored 38-24 in that span of games. Leevi Meril\u00e4inen has had the starter role in the absence of <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/u\/ullmali01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-01-12_hr\">Linus Ullmark<\/a>, but he has struggled, with a 6-10-0 record, 3.48 goals against average, and an .866 save percentage. The recent signing of <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/r\/reimeja01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-01-12_hr\">James Reimer<\/a> may indicate that he gets a chance to show his worth soon.<\/p>\n<p>Starting Goalies<\/p>\n<p>*Below are the projected starters for tonight\u2019s game. Please check social media for the most updated information before locking in your daily fantasy lineups.<\/p>\n<p>Vancouver: <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/l\/lankike01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-01-12_hr\">Kevin Lankinen<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Ottawa: Leevi Meril\u00e4inen<\/p>\n<p>NHL Prediction<\/p>\n<p>One of these teams will snap its losing streak tonight. We will pick the Senators to be able to do so against a heavily injured Canucks team. It will likely be a sloppy game from both sides, but in that sense, it could be an entertaining, high-scoring affair. We like goals, don\u2019t we?<\/p>\n<p>Prediction: Senators win 5-3.<\/p>\n<p>Prop Bets<\/p>\n<p>To wrap things up, here are our anytime goal scorer picks. For the Canucks, we will pick <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/search\/search.fcgi?pid=petteel01,petteel02&amp;search=Elias+Pettersson&amp;utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-01-12_hr\">Elias Pettersson<\/a>, the forward, who has scored more consistently as of late. On the Ottawa side of things, count on <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/b\/bathedr01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-01-12_hr\">Drake Batherson<\/a> to pot a goal.<\/p>\n<p>Main Photo Credit: Bob Frid-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<p>Please play responsibly, check for your local rules and age restrictions; some jurisdictions require ages 21+. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NHL Predictions:\u00a0Vancouver Canucks at Ottawa Senators Time: 7:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST), 4:00 p.m. Pacific How to&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":405305,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5128],"tags":[894,5,4,1112,893,27,28653,5313],"class_list":{"0":"post-405304","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-vancouver-canucks","8":"tag-canucks","9":"tag-hockey","10":"tag-nhl","11":"tag-ottawa-senators-predictions","12":"tag-vancouver","13":"tag-vancouver-canucks","14":"tag-vancouver-canucks-predictions","15":"tag-vancouvercanucks"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/115888234317951418","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/405304","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=405304"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/405304\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/405305"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=405304"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=405304"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=405304"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}