Normally, a win over the Toronto Maple Leafs would sustain us for a couple days.
We could wake up early and enjoy the highlights from the night before. We could watch the Toronto-media ask the tough questions, like “What is wrong with the Leafs?”….as if they don’t already know. We could watch the Leaf fans pretend they aren’t worried and tell themselves that this year is going to be different. And we could laugh. Ohhhh how we’d laugh.
But unfortunately, the schedule-maker has not provided us that luxury. We must focus on the task at hand.
Actually…let’s watch the Tim Stützle pass ONE more time.
Zuckerpass!
Okay, we’re on to the Vancouver Canucks.
Experts and math and logic and common sense would tell you that the Ottawa Senators are out of it. Ten points back with 25 games left and the team they are chasing has four games in hand.
It’s a pretty steep hill to climb.
But you know what, so was…getting the franchise in the first place. Bruce Firestone didn’t just give up. And what about…Rudy? You think Rudy just said, ah heck…I’m too short to play football. It’s too hard. No, he didn’t. Rudy kept going. And what about that old guy from that baseball movie? Dennis Quaid or Kevin Costner or whoever it was. You think he gave up because he was too old? Nope. He didn’t. And they made a movie about him. A couple of them actually.
So I’m sure as HELL not going to give up because math and logic and common sense say it isn’t possible. Just win. It’s that simple. And then win again. And again. And then before you know it, you’ve reeled off 20 straight wins and Kevin Costner himself is calling you up to say congratulations.
The Ottawa Senators host the Vancouver Canucks tonight at the CTC.
DJ Smith met with the media this morning and said they plan to go with the same lineup as last night against the Leafs. That means another game in the press box for Erik Brannstrom.
It also means Clark Bishop gets another chance to centre that fourth line. Bishop, who was acquired from the Hurricanes in the Max Lajoie trade, has been surprisingly noticeable in a little over 17 minutes of ice time through two games. If his finishing ability was anything like his work ethic, he could have a couple goals to his name already.
This isn’t Bishop’s first taste of NHL action though as he appeared in five games with Carolina last year and 20 the season before. He has certainly brought a spark to the team’s bottom six.
Could be some juggling among the forward combinations to start but without a Game Day skate, here’s a best guess for now.
Tkachuk-Norris-C Brown
Paul-White-Dadonov
Stützle-Tierney-Batherson
Dzingel-Bishop-Watson
Chabot-Zaitsev
Reilly-Zub
Wolanin-Gudbranson
No word on a starting goalie as of this morning but considering they recalled Filip Gustavsson, safe to assume Matt Murray is out again. Seems likely that they’ll right back to Joey Daccord.
Puck drop is scheduled for 7:08 PM SHARP. The game is available on TSN5, RDS2, TSN1200 and InternetStreams1967.
Here’s a closer look at tonight’s match-up. Seems like this one will come down to shots for. Oh and shots against.
| HEAD2HEAD |  |
 |
|---|---|---|
| Record | 13-16-2 (28 pts) | 10-20-1 (21 pts) |
| Goals For | 2.71 (22nd) | 2.61 (25th) |
| Goals Against | 3.23 (25th) | 4.00 (31st) |
| Power Play | 20.6% (16th) | 15.5% (26th) |
| Penalty Kill | 80.2% (13th) | 74.0% (26th) |
| Shots For | 30.7 (11th) | 31.4 (7th) |
| Shots Against | 33.4 (30th) | 32.1 (29th) |
| Leading Scorers | Boeser- 29 pts Miller- 26 pts Hughes- 24 pts Horvat- 21 pts Pettersson- 21 pts |
Batherson- 21 pts Tkachuk- 21 pts Chabot- 20 pts Stützle- 17 pts Norris- 15 pts |
| Starting Goalie | TBD | Joey Daccord 1-3-0 3.43 GAA, .897 sv% |
