The Ottawa Senators haven’t played a ton of hockey the last little while.
With a couple two days breaks and then four days off for the holidays, the Senators have had plenty of time away from the rink. They’ll get even more time off next week as they begin their new league-mandated bye week. That means a full five days off right in the middle of the season. Each team gets one between now and the end of February.
But first, a stop in Washington to take on Alex Ovechkin and the Capitals.
The last week or so has served as a helpful reminder of just how precarious Ottawa’s position in the standings really is. While they remain second place in the Atlantic Division, losses in New York and home to the Detroit Red Wings have given the teams behind them a a chance to close the gap. The Bruins are now tied with Ottawa at 44 points (although they’ve played three more games) and Tampa Bay is just two points back (in two more games).
With that lengthy break coming up, the Senators would love to add a couple more points to their total and solidify their spot in the standings a little bit.
It won’t come easy against the Capitals.
Washington comes in with a 21-9-5 record on the season, which has them sitting in the 1st Wildcard spot thanks to a ridiculously tough Metropolitan Division. They have a 12-5-1 record on home ice and a 6-2-2 record in their last ten games. They sit 13th in goals for but their defence and goaltending have both been excellent as they sit 3rd in the league in goals against per game allowing just 2.09 a game.
The Senators are expected to run with a similar line up as he had the other night against Detroit. Zack Smith is still sidelined with an injury and Freddy Claesson will likely be the odd man out on defence. We’ll confirm these combinations at the morning skate around 11:30 AM.
Dzingel-Turris-Ryan
Pyatt-Brassard-Stone
Hoffman-Pageau-Lazar
Bailey-Kelly-Neil
Methot-Karlsson
Phaneuf-Ceci
Borowiecki-Wideman
Mike Condon is the likely starter for Ottawa. Puck drop is scheduled for just after 7:30 PM
