In just 12 days from now, the Sens will wrap up their regular season.
Less than two weeks. And yet, with only seven games to go, it feels like we’re still learning about this year’s edition of the Ottawa Senators. We saw the worst of them in Florida and then we saw this group at their best on Thursday night against Buffalo. Who shows up on Saturday afternoon? Like literally, which defenceman will show up to play?
The Ottawa Senators host the Minnesota Wild in another crucial tilt at the CTC.
There’s really no need for an explanation at this point. The standings kind of speak for themselves. Thanks to a gutsy win over the Sabres, the Sens have pulled themselves back into a playoff spot in the East. Right now it looks like there are two spots up for grabs and six teams with a realistic shot at claiming their ticket to the dance. With a tough back to back this weekend and all sorts of big games on the out of town scoreboard, this is going to be a crucial 48 hours in the playoff push.
Early start so we’ll have to wait until a little closer to game time to confirm the lineup but probably something like this. Doesn’t sound like Jake Sanderson is ready to go just yet but maybe. Tyler Kleven left early last game and his status is also a bit of an unknown. We’ll keep an eye out for a call-up this morning. I’ll bring my skates just in case.
Zetterlund-Stützle-Batherson
Tkachuk-Cozens-Greig
Giroux-Pinto-Amadio
Foegele-Eller-Cousins
Kleven-Zub
Matinpalo-Spence
Thomson-Crotty
Starting goalie feels like a toss up today on the back to back.
Puck drop is scheduled for 1:08 PM at The Tire. The game is on TV on TSN5 and TVA Sports or on the radio at TSN1200 and 104.7 FM or on the internet thanks to various streaming platforms. You could also hop down to the CTC and watch this one in real life.
A closer look at the match-up courtesy of the HEAD2HEAD table.
| HEAD2HEAD |  |
 |
|---|---|---|
| Record | 42-21-12 (96 pts) | 39-26-10 (88 pts) |
| Goals For | 3.24 (11th) | 3.31 (10th) |
| Goals Against | 2.84 (4th) | 3.07 (16th) |
| Power Play | 24.8% (3rd) | 22.2% (12th) |
| Penalty Kill | 78.5% (18th) | 74.9% (30th) |
| Shots For | 29.6 (6th) | 28.9 (9th) |
| Shots Against | 29.7 (27th) | 24.3 (3rd) |
| Leading Scorers | Kaprizov-83 pts Boldy-79 pts Hughes-73 pts Faber-50 pts Zuccarello-47 pts |
Stutzle-76 pts Batherson-64 pts Cozens-53 pts Tkachuk-52 pts Sanderson-48 pts |
| Starting Goalie | TBD | TBD |