That win in Boston on Tuesday night eased the tension a little bit.
After a difficult weekend back to back against the Montreal Canadiens and with the losses starting to pile up, the Ottawa Senators desperately needed to win that hockey game. And while it wasn’t pretty, they found a way to get it done against a tough Bruins team.
It gave them some much-needed breathing room in the standings too, as they still sit five points clear of the third place Maple Leafs and eight up on the 9th place New York Islanders.
They’ll look to build off that game on Tuesday as they return home to host the high-flying Penguins.
Pittsburgh has been one of the league’s top teams most of the way this season and they currently sit just one point back of the Washington Capitals for the top spot in the NHL. It looked like the Capitals were going to run away with that Metropolitan Division about a month ago but the Pens have closed the gap thanks to an impressive 8-1-1 record in their last ten.
The battle for that top spot is important too because it’s the difference between an opening round series against a 100+ point team and starting against the second Wild Card team.
Ottawa and Pittsburgh have gone head to head twice this year. The Penguins won a high-scoring game 8-5 back in December and the Senators evened the series with a 4-1 win in Ottawa in mid-January.
Guy Boucher has his team on the ice for the morning skate and it looks like they’ll go with the same line up as they used in Boston the other night. Mark Stone participated in the morning skate but he’s not quite ready to return. Sounds like he’s hoping to be ready for Saturday though.
One of the six defenceman may not be available which means Freddy Claesson could play. Chris DiDomenico sits up front. Here’s how the Senators lined up this morning.
Smith-Turris-Ryan
Dzingel-Brassard-Burrows
Hoffman-Pageau-Pyatt
Stalberg-Kelly-Wingels
Methot-Karlsson
Phaneuf-Ceci
Borowiecki-Wideman
Mike Condon gets the start in the Ottawa goal. Puck drop is scheduled for just after 7:30 PM.
