Scoreboard watching is common this time of year.
All across the National Hockey League, teams with playoff aspirations are keeping a close eye on what’s happening out of town. Every point matters right now and many of these races could come down to the final day of the season.
Excitement. Drama. Tension. You really can’t beat meaningful hockey late in the season. This is why we watch. This is why they play.
Annnnd then there’s us.
The Ottawa Senators really haven’t played a meaningful game in…well in almost three years. So as fans, we need to find ways to keep ourselves busy and to feel like we’re a part of the action. So we’ve been doing a little scoreboard watching of our own around these parts. And it’s going pretty well lately.
The Ottawa Senators have lost four in a row. So they’re doing their part. The San Jose Sharks certainly look like a team that might never win again. The New Jersey Devils have won three straight. Hell, even the Los Angeles Kings won last night! The Red Wings are just forfeiting games at this point but everything else is going according to plan.
Great news, right?
Well actually no it’s a terrible way to follow pro sports and this better be the last time I have to do it for a long, long time. Here’s hoping a few more lottery balls make the difference. Then maybe next year, we can get back to cheering for our damn hockey team.
Go Devils. Go Blues. Go Panthers, just because. And have some fun out there, Sens.
The Ottawa Senators return home from a two-game road swing to host Elias Pettersson and the Vancouver Canucks.
For Sens fans hoping for a turnaround after three dreadful seasons, the success of the Canucks serves as an inspiration of sorts.
After missing the playoffs in four consecutive seasons, the Canucks are finally back in the mix. Their team is young, exciting and competitive and it seemed to happen almost overnight. All it took was hitting on a couple top five picks in Elias Pettersson and Quinn Hughes. The Canucks had some good pieces in place but that dramatic and sudden infusion of skill made all the difference.
The Canucks sit second in the Pacific Division heading into tonight.
More line up shuffling expected for the Senators tonight. Filip Chlapik scored against the Predators so he was immediately dispatched back to Belleville, where that kind of behaviour is tolerated.
Morning skate set for 10:30 AM so we’ll confirm the line up then. It might look something like this.
Tkachuk-Norris-Ryan
Balcers-Tierney-Brown
Paul-Anisimov-Hawryluk
Boedker-Peca-Sabourin
Chabot-Hainsey
Reilly-Zaitsev
Englund-Jaros
Marcus Hogberg is expected to get the start in goal.
Puck drop is scheduled for just after 7:30 PM with the game available on TSN5 and RDS2. If you’re heading to the rink tonight, you may uhh want to leave now. Be safe out there, folks.
A closer look at tonight’s match-up.
| HEAD2HEAD |  |
 |
|---|---|---|
| Record | 34-22-6 (74 pts) | 21-32-12 (53 pts) |
| Goals For | 3.29 (7th) | 2.64 (26th) |
| Goals Against | 3.02 (14th) | 3.34 (30th) |
| Power Play | 24.2% (4th) | 15.3% (29th) |
| Penalty Kill | 80.2% (16th) | 77.5% (24th) |
| Shots For | 31.1 (19th) | 30.5 (23rd) |
| Shots Against | 33.3 (28th) | 33.8 (29th) |
| Leading Scorers | Miller- 63 pts Pettersson- 59 pts Horvat- 50 pts |
Tkachuk- 38 pts Brown- 37 pts Duclair- 37 pts |
| Starting Goalie | Thatcher Demko 11-6-2 3.03 GAA, .906 sv% |
Marcus Hogberg 3-7-8 3.10 GAA, .908 sv% |
