This is no time to panic.
With 59 games left in the NHL’s regular season, the Ottawa Senators have plenty of time to right the ship. Just six points out of that final playoff spot and with a couple games in hand. Plenty of time to get this thing figured out.
But what they do need, in the worst possible way, is a solid sixty minute effort that they can build on as a team. They need the kind of confidence boosting game that will allow them to collectively loosen the grip on the stick a little bit and get back to playing the solid team game we saw at times in October and early November. It’s in there but right now it feels like it’s buried in layers and layers of self-doubt. And with the next game not until Thursday night, this feels like pretty close to a must-win.
The Ottawa Senators look to end this California road trip on a high note as they visit the Anaheim Ducks.
No Game Day skate for the Sens in a back to back situation so we’ll have to wait until game time to see how Travis Green plans on lining them up. There are certainly a few candidates to sit after that game in Los Angeles last night (Ridly Greig and Tyler Kleven at the top of the list) but they’re pretty limited in terms of options at the end of this trip. Nick Cousins was the extra forward last night and Donovan Sebrango is available on defence.
We’ll find out the lineup closer to puck drop.
Tkachuk-Stützle-Gaudette
Giroux-Norris-Batherson
Reinhardt-Pinto-Amadio
Gregor-Ostapchuk-Greig
Sanderson-Hamonic
Chabot-Bernard-Docker
Kleven-Jensen
Safe to assume Linus Ullmark gets the start in goal though.
Puck drop is scheduled for 8:08 PM in Anaheim. The game is available on TSN5 and on the radio at TSN1200. Streams usually appear in the comment section closer to game time.
Here’s a closer look at how the Senators and the Ducks match up via the HEAD2HEAD table.
| HEAD2HEAD |  |
 |
|---|---|---|
| Record | 10-12-1 (21 pts) | 9-10-3 (21 pts) |
| Goals For | 3.13 (14th) | 2.55 (27th) |
| Goals Against | 3.30 (27th) | 2.91 (10th) |
| Power Play | 28.2% (3rd) | 14.9% (30th) |
| Penalty Kill | 76.5% (24th) | 75.0% (26th) |
| Shots For | 30.9 (4th) | 27.6 (25th) |
| Shots Against | 27.5 (7th) | 33.5 (32nd) |
| Leading Scorers | Stutzle-29 pts Tkachuk-26 pts Batherson-24 pts Giroux-17 pts Norris-15 pts |
Terry-16 pts Carlsson-11 pts Gauthier-10 pts Killorn-10 pts Strome-10 pts |
| Starting Goalie | Linus Ullmark 5-7-1 3.09 GAA, .886 sv% |
Lukas Dostal 5-7-2 2.72 GAA, .922 sv% |
