Less than five weeks remaining in the 2017/2018 regular season.
18 games to go. Or like 54 periods plus overtime and shootouts. That’s about 1080 minutes of hockey left on the schedule. Which when you think about it, is only 64,800 seconds of Senators hockey left to watch. Almost there.
The Ottawa Senators wrap up their four game road trip with a quick trip to Texas to take on Jason Spezza, Marc Methot, Ben Bishop and the rest of the Dallas Stars.
Over the next few weeks, you’re going to hear a lot about the possibility of “playing spoiler”. For a basement dweller like the Ottawa Senators, that’s all they really have to play for. While fans would be more than content to see them just lose 18 consecutive 6-5 decisions, the players on the ice have to find something to rally around down the stretch. A reason to show up. And throwing a wrench into other team’s playoff hopes can be one of those motivators. Or something like that?
They have a chance to do that tonight in Dallas.
With just 17 games to go, the Dallas Stars find themselves fairly comfortable in the first Wild Card spot in the Western Conference, three points clear of the Colorado Avalanche. A home game against the 29th place Ottawa Senators is a game they absolutely have to win. No pressure, fellas.
The Senators are on the ice for their morning skate at 12:30 PM today so we’ll find out if they have any line up changes in mind then. A best guess for now.
Hoffman-Duchene-Paajarvi
Ryan-Pageau-Stone
Dzingel-O’Brien-Pyatt
Burrows-Smith-Gaborik
Claesson-Karlsson
Chabot-Ceci
Borowiecki-Harpur
Peter Sidorkiewicz gets the start for Ottawa. Puck drop is scheduled for just after 8:30 PM.
