With just 12 games left in their season, the Ottawa Senators don’t have a whole lot left to play for. Ending the season on a high note would be good and ruining the hopes and dreams of other teams is always nice but at this point, they’re really just playing out the string.
Heading into Saturday’s action, the Senators sit 27th overall. Moving up or down a couple spots is still a possibility but for the most part, it’s unlikely they’ll move much in the standings over the last few weeks of the season. So 12 more games and then we turn our attention to that damn Draft Lottery on May 16th.
It won’t be like this next year. The days of stress-free Spring hockey and caring about those stupid ping pong balls are almost over in Ottawa and not a moment too soon because I don’t know how many more of these half-assed Game Day posts I can write.
The Ottawa Senators travel to New York to take on the Rangers on Saturday night.
It sounds like the Senators will be without a couple key pieces at MSG. DJ Smith met with the media yesterday and said Tim Stützle will miss a second straight game with a nagging knee injury. Surely that public apology from Brendan Gallagher is coming any day now. Drake Batherson is also unlikely to play as he’s still getting over an illness. He’s expected to draw back in on Sunday though.
No game day skate for the good guys today but here’s a best guess at their lineup for this one.
Tkachuk-Norris-Joseph
Formenton-Tierney-Gaudette
Kelly-White-Brown
Gambrell-Kastelic-Watson
Brannstrom-Zub
Holden-Zaitsev
Del Zotto-Hamonic
Anton Forsberg starts. Mads Søgaard will likely make the second start of his NHL career tomorrow night.
Puck drop is scheduled for just a shade after 7:00 PM at MSG. The game is available on Sportsnet 360, City TV and on the radio at TSN 1200. Here’s instructions on how you can stream the game- fill a medium pot with 1/2 inch of water, place three golf ball–sized balls of aluminium foil on the bottom, rest a heat-proof plate on top of the foil balls, cover the pot, and bring the water to a boil. Add vegetables to the plate, cover, and steam.
And now, the HEAD2HEAD table.
Please excuse any spelling mistakes, comma misuse and reckless placement of dashes in today’s Game Day post- the new editor I just hired is nowhere to be found.
| HEAD2HEAD |  |
 |
|---|---|---|
| Record | 26-38-6 (58 pts) | 46-20-6 (98 pts) |
| Goals For | 2.69 (26th) | 3.00 (18th) |
| Goals Against | 3.21 (23rd) | 2.54 (3rd) |
| Power Play | 19.1% (22nd) | 26.6% (2nd) |
| Penalty Kill | 80.5% (12th) | 81.6% (9th) |
| Shots For | 30.3 (20th) | 28.8 (30th) |
| Shots Against | 33.2 (26th) | 31.2 (14th) |
| Leading Scorers | Tkachuk- 53 pts Norris- 46 pts Stützle 43 pts Batherson- 38 pts Brown- 37 pts |
Panarin- 85 pts Zibanejad- 73 pts Kreider- 68 pts Fox- 67 pts Strome- 46 pts |
| Starting Goalie | Anton Forsberg 17-15-3 2.73 GAA, .918 sv% |
Igor Shesterkin 33-10-4 2.10 GAA, .935 sv% |
