If the Ottawa Senators are going to have any chance of clawing their way back into the playoff race in the Eastern Conference, this afternoon’s opponent is one of the teams they are going to have to chase down.
The Bruins have had kind of an up and down start to their season and right now sit five points clear of the Senators. Ottawa does have two games in hand though. A win this afternoon, and in regulation, would certainly help close that gap a little bit.
The New York Rangers currently hold the second wild card spot in the East but look like a team they will be tough to catch in the second half of the season. But just ahead of them, the Toronto Maple Leafs look as vulnerable as ever. Ottawa trails them by 8 points right now but do have three games in hand. It’s a little early to be looking this closely at the standing because right now the equation for Ottawa is pretty simple.
They need to start stringing some wins together and soon.
Late last night, the Senators recalled defenceman Chris Wideman from Binghamton of the American Hockey League. Wideman has had an excellent season in Binghamton and certainly earned this call up. He’s racked up 29 points in 32 games and currently leads the team in scoring. He’s technically here as an insurance policy but it would be great to see him actually get in to one of these weekend games. He’s a right hand shot that skates well and can move the puck quickly. Would be interesting to see how his game translates at the NHL level.
Meanwhile Marc Methot has joined the team in Binghamton and is expected to be in the lineup against Syracuse tonight.
The Senators practiced yesterday and all indications were that the forward lines would remain unchanged. They seemed to be shuffling things around a little bit on defence so we’ll have to wait until game time to know exactly what Dave Cameron has in mind there. Here’s how the Senators are expected to line up for this one.
MacArthur-Turris-Stone
Hoffman-Zibanejad-Ryan
Michalek-Pageau-Chiasson
Greening-Legwand-Condra
Phillips-Karlsson
Cowen-Ceci
Wiercioch-Gryba
Craig Anderson gets the start in the Ottawa goal. Puck drop is scheduled for just after 1:00 PM with the game available on TSN5.
