If Thursday’s game against the St. Louis Blues is any indication, we might be in for a bit of a rough ride the rest of the season.
39 games to go and playoff hopes rapidly fading away. Trade rumours swirling around just about every player on the team including the best defenceman in the league. Uncomfortable press conferences from the General Manager, repetitive explanations from the Head Coach and a group of players that really have no answer for what has gone wrong this year.
And on top of all of that. every single discussion about what the team needs or what the team should do going forward ultimately circles back to the problems created by the Owner.
Yea, it’s not much fun being a fan of the Ottawa Senators right now. A win of the Toronto Maple Leafs would certainly be a welcome distraction.
Regardless of where you fall in the tank vs. playoff push debate, we can all agree that it would be great to win all remaining games against Toronto and Montreal. And especially the ones on home ice. Preferably by like 8 goals.
The Battle of Ontario resumes tonight at the Canadian Tire Centre.
Nate Thompson re-injured whatever lower body ailment was giving him trouble before the bye week and he won’t play tonight. Colin White was recalled yesterday evening and is expected to play. Erik Karlsson was sick and missed yesterday’s practice but he Boucher indicated that he’ll likely play.
The Senators are on the ice for their game day skate at 10:30 AM so we’ll find out if they have any other changes in mind.
A best guess at the line up for now
Dzingel-Brassard-Stone
Hoffman-Duchene-Ryan
Pyatt-Smith-White
Burrows-Chlapik-Dumont
Chabot-Karlsson
Borowiecki-Ceci
Phaneuf-Oduya
Craig Anderson gets the start in goal for Ottawa. Puck drop is scheduled for just after 7:00 PM.
 |
 |
|
|---|---|---|
| Record | 25-17-5 (55 pts) | 15-19-9 (39 pts) |
| Goals For | 3.09 (8th) | 2.72 (T-23rd) |
| Goals Against | 2.87 (T-17th) | 3.44 (29th) |
| Power Play | 20.6% (11th) | 15.1% (28th) |
| Penalty Kill | 84.2% (3rd) | 75.4% (28th) |
| Shots For/Shots Against | 31.1 (19th) 34.1 (29th) |
30.4 (24th) 32.5 (23rd) |
| Scoring Leaders | Matthews- 33 pts Nylander- 32 pts Rielly- 31 pts |
Stone- 42 pts Karlsson- 30 pts Hoffman- 29 pts |
| Team Shooting % | 9.9% (9th) | 8.9% (17th) |
| Team Save % | .916% (T-7th) | .894% (T-29th) |
