If the Ottawa Senators are going to crawl their way back into the Eastern Conference playoff picture, it’s going to take a series of efforts like the one they put in against the Boston Bruins on Tuesday night.
It’s not that the Sens played a perfect game by any stretch but they went toe to toe with the league-leading Bruins, got some exceptional goaltending from Cam Talbot and in the end, found a way to win a hockey game.
Tonight, they’ll look to find a way against Alex Ovechkin and the red-hot Washington Capitals.
Every game is big in Ottawa’s current position but these next two against the Caps and Red Wings are especially large. Both teams sit ahead of Ottawa in the standings, making the points especially valuable. At the same time, should things break the right away over the next 48 hours, the Senators could conceivably pass three teams in the standings and sit six points out of a playoff spot with a game in hand.
One change to the lineup ahead of this one. Nikita Zaitsev, who has played much better since that brief stint in the American Hockey League, was hurt against the Bruins and is expected to be out for the “next little while”. The good news is Jacob Bernard-Docker is healthy and ready to go and it looks like he’ll slide into Zaitsev’s spot on that top pairing.
More help may be on the way in the not too distant future.
Artem Zub joined the team on this road trip and depending on what the doctors say, he could play as early as tomorrow night against the Red Wings.
Josh Norris also joined the team on the road and while he won’t play, it’s pretty clear that he’s way ahead of schedule. Norris took some power play reps at practice yesterday which is another indication that he’s quietly ramping up for a return. Still no timeline being provided but it’s looking more and more like early-January is a realistic possibility.
No other changes expected from the lineup that beat the Bruins.
Tkachuk-Stützle-Giroux
DeBrincat-Pinto-Batherson
Kelly-Gambrell-Lucchini
Brassard-Kastelic-Watson
Chabot-Bernard-Docker
Sanderson-Hamonic
Heatherington-Holden
Cam Talbot gets another start for the Senators.
Puck drop is scheduled for 7:08 PM in Washington. The game is available on TSN5 and on the radio at TSN1200. Looking to stream the game instead? Keep an eye on the comment section below for the appropriate links.
Here’s a closer look at how these teams match-up via something I like to call the HEAD2HEAD table.
| HEAD2HEAD |  |
 |
|---|---|---|
| Record | 15-16-3 (33 pts) | 20-13-4 (44 pts) |
| Goals For | 3.00 (24th) | 3.11 (18th) |
| Goals Against | 3.18 (17th) | 2.70 (7th) |
| Power Play | 28.2% (3rd) | 21.1% (21st) |
| Penalty Kill | 80.5% (12th) | 81.7% (6th) |
| Shots For | 33.2 (7th) | 31.6 (17th) |
| Shots Against | 33.0 (25th) | 30.1 (11th) |
| Leading Scorers | Tkachuk- 37 pts Batherson- 33 pts DeBrincat- 33 pts Giroux- 29 pts Stützle- 29 pts |
Ovechkin- 41 pts Kuznetsov- 29 pts Strome- 26 pts Sheary- 23 pts Carlson- 21 pts |
| Starting Goalie | Cam Talbot 9-8-1 2.66 GAA, .915 sv% |
Darcy Kuemper 10-9-2 2.40 GAA, .920 sv% |
