There are just three games left in this disappointing season.
So if I may, a word about this “disappointing season”. What in the sweet flying fuck happened in the last 22 months?! Like, are we entirely sure that Chris Kunitz goal didn’t just actually kill us all and everything since then has been some unique form of purgatory? If I had shown you the roster for Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals and the current combination of players you would have punched me square in the nose. Captain and franchise player gone, leading goal scorer gone, three best remaining forwards including the Captain in waiting gone and still no sign of Lyndon fucking Slewidge. They finished in 30th place last year and Management said there was no way it could get worse. So they followed that up with a season that was quite a bit worse, thank you very much. This time they find themselves one spot lower in the standings but with no high draft pick to show for it. Uhh Pierre- that’s MUCH worse. Yet for all the disappointment on the ice, it’s what’s happened away from the rink that really sticks in my craw. The fan base has basically completely unraveled. Season tickets are being cancelled at an alarming rate and it sort of feels like it’s become cool to make fun of the Ottawa Senators. Only most of it comes from our own fans. Dare you to try and say something nice about the team on Twitter. It won’t take long before someone accuses you of being a bot or an employee of the team or a combination of both. Usually it’s the sort of stuff that comes from your rivals but at this point, the rest of the league mostly feels bad for us. LeBreton is dead, they still have those god awful jerseys and Eugene Melnyk is STILL here.
The Ottawa Senators play game number 80 tonight at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Last night, Operation Don’t Finish Last came to a disappointing conclusion.
Los Angeles accidentally won again in Arizona and in the process, ensured that the Senators will be 31st overall when the season ends. The mission was simple but in the end it proved to be unattainable. The Colorado Avalanche, who can clinch a playoff spot on Thursday night by the way, now have an 18.5% chance at landing the first overall pick in this summer’s Entry Draft.
The only potentially meaningful game left on the schedule for Ottawa is now game number 82, when they may be in the delightful position of being able to ruin everything for either Columbus or Montreal.
Tonight’s opponent, the New York Rangers, knows a thing or two about playing meaningless hockey games. The Rangers are smack dab in the middle of their own rebuild and their fans seem to have come to terms with their current standing.
#NYR and #NJDevils fans united by a “We both suck” chant 😅😂 #JayAndDan
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(🎥: IG/russ_shot_that) pic.twitter.com/QibM7UAgQo— #JayAndDan (@JayAndDan) April 2, 2019
Their team is led by Mika Zibanejad who has been spinning himself quite a season for the Rangers and turned the tables on the team that traded him away. He has dropped 30 goals this season and mixed in 72 points which beats his career-high.
Marc Crawford met with the media yesterday and had a couple line up notes of uhh note. Andreas Englund is up from the AHL and expected to make his season debut. Meanwhile Christian Wolanin is on important business in Belleville.
A best guess at the lineup tonight based on yesterday’s practice.
Balcers-Pageau-Veronneau
Tkachuk-White-Gibbons
Duclair-Tierney-Ryan
Smith-Lindberg-Paajarvi/Boedker
Chabot-DeMelo
Englund-Ceci
Harpur-Jaros
Anders Nilsson is expected to get the start for Ottawa. Joey Daccord will go tomorrow against the Sabres.
Puck drop in this one is scheduled for 7:30 PM. The game is available on Sportsnet which means I’ll have the game on mute while I listen to a radio call of the Belleville Senators playing the BIGGEST GAME OF THE YEAR.
här är ett bord.
| huvud2huvud |  |
 |
|---|---|---|
| Rekord | 28-45-6 (62 pts) | 31-35-13 (75 pts) |
| Mål för | 2.96 (15th) | 2.71 (23rd) |
| mål mot | 3.66 (31st) | 33.7 (29th) |
| ett powerplay | 20.4% (14th) | 19.6% (17th) |
| en utvisningsstraff | 79.6% (21st | 78.0% (28th) |
| skott för | 29.7 (T-24th) | 29.2 (27th) |
| skott mot | 35.9 (31st) | 33.7 (29th) |
| poängledare | Chabot- 62 pts Tierney- 58 pts Tkachuk- 43 pts |
Zibanejad- 72 pts Kreider- 51 pts Buchnevich- 37 pts |
| en målvakt | Anders Nilsson 13-19-1 3.05 GAA, .907 sv% |
Henrik Lundqvist 18-22-10 3.0 GAA, .908 sv% |
