With Mark Stone out on a week to week basis, it seemed like the tanks were finally starting to align for the Ottawa Senators.
Without their best forward and MVP in the line up, the team seemed like they would be pretty hard-pressed to win any of their remaining 15 games. Especially with a tough stretch of games coming up.
And then Magnus Paajarvi and Matt Duchene stormed into Florida and spoiled that plan.
That was a game the Panthers absolutely had to win. They came in riding an 8 game winning streak on home ice and they had been one of the league’s hottest teams over the last month or so. They were just two points back of the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference and it was basically the biggest game of their season to this point. They had hundreds of fans cheering them on. Meanwhile the Senators really had nothing to play for.
So naturally, the Senators won. Hockey is weird like that.
Those two points moved Ottawa into 28th in the overall standings. Onward and upward, I guess?
The Senators are right back at it again tonight against the Tampa Bay Lightning- a team that currently sits 41 points ahead of them in the standings.
The Lightning have been among the top teams in the league for most of the season and they are currently in a fight to lock down the President’s Trophy. The Nashville Predators sit just two points back with a game in hand. The Bolts also have to keep an eye on the Boston Bruins, who sit six points back but have a couple games in hand.
So another Ottawa win then, right?
For the Senators- similar situation to last night. Nothing left to play for but pride. 14 more times.
No game day skate for the Senators obviously but we’ll find out if there are any line up changes planned later in the day. Boucher had mentioned there was a chance they could call somebody up for the second game of the back to back so we’ll see if anything happens on that front.
For now, expect the Senators to go with the same line up.
Dzingel-Duchene-Hoffman
Burrows-Pageau-Ryan
Paajarvi-Smith-Pyatt
McCormick-O’Brien-Gaborik
Chabot-Karlsson
Harpur-Ceci
Borowiecki-Burgdoerfer
Mike Condon is expected to get the start in goal. The puck will drop when it’s good and ready.
