There was a time not long ago when the Vancouver Canucks fancied themselves playoff contenders.
It was about a week ago actually. They had cruised to a couple easy wins over the lowly Toronto Maple Leafs and with a four-game series coming up against the Ottawa Senators, the national media wondered if maybe the Canucks could make a run at it.
Win those four games against Ottawa and suddenly, Trevor Linden and the Canucks would be right there! Ahhhhhhh not so fast, Trevor.
As the Canucks found out the hard way, these are not January’s Ottawa Senators. And they’re not that try-hard but still lose bunch from February either. The way things are going lately, the Senators are one of the top teams in the division. Plain and simple. It’s kind of a low bar when you consider the way the other Canadians teams are stumbling down the stretch but it’s true.
Ottawa has won two of the first three in this series and they’ll look to drive the final nail through Vancouver’s playoff chances in game four. Oh and they’ll look to pass them in the standings in the process.
Senators and Canucks from the Canadian Tire Centre later…this afternoon.
No morning skate for the Senators so we’ll have to get pretty creative to come up with things to complain about.
Not expecting any changes to the Ottawa lineup but that depends on the turnout at the “Play JBD!” protest on Parliament Hill later today.
A best guess for now…
Tkachuk-Norris-Batherson
Stützle-White-Dadonov
Dzingel-Tierney-Brown
Formenton-Pinto-Paul
Chabot-Zaitsev
Brannstrom-Zub
Mete-J. Brown
Marcus Hogberg is expected to get the start in goal for Ottawa.
Puck drop is scheduled for a “let’s get it over with” time of 5:30 PM. The game is available on TSN5 and Sportsnet Pacific. TSN1200 has the radio feed and Larry is providing the illegal streams. Thanks Larry!
Here’s a closer look at how these team’s match-up in today’s HEAD2HEAD table, sponsored by the good folks at Larry’s Food Hut . Thanks Larry!
| HEAD2HEAD |  |
 |
|---|---|---|
| Record | 19-20-3 (41 pts) | 18-27-4 (40 pts) |
| Goals For | 2.64 (24th) | 2.67 (T-20th) |
| Goals Against | 3.12 (22nd) | 3.47 (30th) |
| Power Play | 19.5% (19th) | 16.8% (26th) |
| Penalty Kill | 78.3% (20th) | 78.1% (T-21st) |
| Shots For | 30.0 (T-12th) | 30.3 (8th) |
| Shots Against | 33.5 (31st) | 32.2 (28th) |
| Leading Scorers | Boeser- 37 pts Miller- 33 pts Horvat- 32 pts Hughes- 32 pts Pettersson- 21 pts |
Tkachuk- 32 pts Batherson- 31 pts Norris- 31 pts Brown- 28 pts Chabot- 28 pts |
| Starting Goalie | TBD | Marcus Hogberg 3-7-0 3.81 GAA, .877 sv% |
In case you missed it yesterday, Roby Jarventie signed a three-year entry-level contract with the Senators yesterday. He also signed an ATO and will report to Belleville following a required quarantine period.
