It will be strange to watch an Ottawa Senators game without an overwhelming sense of dread.
For Sens fans, the last few weeks of the season have been pretty stressful. It looked like the Senators were going to cruise to the playoffs but a late season stumble made for some trepidation down the stretch. But Ottawa came through in a big way during a back to back with the Red Wings and then locked it down against the Boston Bruins.
The Ottawa Senators have their ticket to the dance heading into the final weekend of the regular season.
But that doesn’t mean there’s nothing left to play for. While the Leafs, Lightning and Islanders are battling tooth and nail for that final spot, the Senators have set their sights on home ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs. One more win gets it done.
They’ll have a chance to clinch second place in the Atlantic Division when they host Mika Zibanejad and the New York Rangers.
With the early start, the line up will remain a bit of a mystery until Guy Boucher meets with the media later this morning.
We know Erik Karlsson is unlikely to play but he may not be the only veteran player resting up an injury this weekend. With Colin White, Chris Neil, Chris DiDomenico and Jyrkki Jokipakka all available, wouldn’t be surprised to see a few guys given a day to heal an injury of some sort.
In particular, there has been some talk about the idea of giving Chris Neil one last home game as he’s unlikely to have a spot in the line up come playoff time. Could be the end of the line for Neil here in Ottawa so it would be a nice gesture. And you know he’d be all fired up to go out with a bang.
So much for that! Same line up this afternoon.
Hoffman-Turris-Stone
Stalberg-Brassard-Burrows
Dzingel-Pageau-Pyatt
MacArthur-Kelly-Wingels
Phaneuf-Ceci
Borowiecki-Wideman
Claesson-Harpur
Craig Anderson gets the start. Puck drop is scheduled for just after 12:30 PM.
