The Ottawa Senators continue their unlikely playoff push tonight at the Canadian Tire Centre.
The Senators are now 10-1-1 in their last twelve games and continue to put pressure on the Wild Card teams in the East. They host the Flyers tonight, are in Carolina on Tuesday and then return home for four straight on home ice against the Bruins, the Leafs, the Sharks and the Rangers.
The run this Senators team has been on lately is just so impressive. Despite some difficult spots on the schedule, they keep finding ways to win hockey games. Twice now, they’ve managed to win both games of a back to back and against some of the top teams in the league. And on the road no less. So while the schedule certainly hasn’t been an easy one, the Sens have found a way to power through and continue banking points.
And they have to just to keep pace in the East.
Coming into tonight’s action, Ottawa trails both Washington and Boston by seven points. And after a few weeks of hoping for Boston losses, the Senators would actually prefer a Washington regulation loss against the Bruins. The Capitals are now the team Ottawa is chasing.
The Senators trail the Caps by seven points but with two games in hand. The nice thing is unlike the Bruins, Washington actually loses from time time.
The Flyers have actually been playing a little better of late but much like the Senators, they’ve had a hard time gaining any ground on the teams ahead of them. They are coming off a 7-2 win over the Red Wings yesterday afternoon.
Dave Cameron has his team on the ice for the morning skate and the early indication is that there will be no changes to the line up that won Friday night on Long Island. That means Colin Greening and Eric Gryba are the healthy scratches. Here’s how the Senators are expected to line up for this one.
Hoffman-Zibanejad-Ryan
Michalek-Turris-Stone
Condra-Pageau-Lazar
Puempel-Legwand-Chiasson
Methot-Karlsson
Wiercioch-Ceci
Cowen-Borowiecki
Andrew Hammond makes another start in the Ottawa goal. Puck drop is scheduled for just after 7:00 PM.
Go. Sens. Go.
