Let me be honest. I have no idea how to feel about this hockey team right now.
In past seasons, I have led the charge against the “tank” concept. A high draft pick is a consolation prize for a terrible season. It should never be the goal itself. And because what we want as fans has no real impact on the on-ice results, it really doesn’t make sense to go against our nature and actively cheer for losses.
It just ain’t right.
But I’ll admit, looking at the roster coming into this season, I found the T-word entering my vocabulary for the first time. I didn’t want them to lose by any stretch but my mind was fast-forwarding to draft day. And it was still October. Settling in for a Sens game wasn’t so much a hobby as it was an obligation. Entertaining, sure. But there was this strange conflicted feeling as I watched.
Lately though, that has changed. It’s impossible not to root for this group. When Brady Tkachuk scored that OT winner against the Habs on Wednesday night, for the first time all year, there was no conflicted feeling after an Ottawa goal. I kind of surprised myself with my celebration of the goal. I wanted those two points.
Against all odds, the Ottawa Senators find themselves in the mix in the Eastern Conference. For now anyway, the draft in June could not be further from my mind.
The Senators look to keep it rolling as they return home to host the New York Rangers.
The Rangers, a candidate for a last place finish, have been playing better of late. They’ve put up a 6-3-1 record in their past ten games, including an impressive win over the league-leading Washington Capital a couple nights ago.
Certainly not a team that can be taken lightly.
Could be some changes to the Ottawa line up. Vladislav Namestnikov left Wednesday’s game with what looked like both an upper and lower body injury.
We’ll see what DJ Smith has in mind when the Senators skate at 10:30 AM.
Paul-Pageau-Brown
Tkachuk-L Brown-Duclair
Ennis-Tierney-White
Chlapik-Beaudin-Veronneau
Chabot-DeMelo
Borowiecki-Lajoie
Hainsey-Goloubef
Anders Nilsson gets the start in goal.
Puck drop is scheduled for just after 7:30 PM. 7:38 PM to be exact. 7:39 PM if the anthem singer hangs on the last note a little too long. 7:50 PM if we also decide to honour some obscure defensive forward. The game is on TSN5 and RDS.
Friday night hockey rules, by the way. It’s just Saturday night hockey without the usual Sportsnet nonsense!
And now, as we count down the minutes till game time, a HEAD2HEAD table to get lost in. Look at all those numbers….and ranking…all conveniently arranged in a table format. Dayyyyyum.
| HEAD2HEAD |  |
 |
|---|---|---|
| Record | 9-8-2 (20 pts) | 10-11-1 (21 pts) |
| Goals For | 3.37 (8th) | 2.77 (T-21st) |
| Goals Against | 3.47 (28th) | 3.14 (20th) |
| Power Play | 22.7% (T-10th) | 8.0% (31st) |
| Penalty Kill | 73.0% (T-27th) | 81.7% (17th) |
| Shots For | 29.4 (24th) | 29.5 (23rd) |
| Shots Against | 35.8 (30th) | 34.1 (29th) |
| Leading Scorers | Panarin- 25 pts Strome- 19 pts Buchnevich- 17 pts |
Pageau- 17 pts Brown- 14 pts Duclair- 13 pts |
| Starting Goalie | Henrik Lundqvist 5-4-1 3.31 GAA, .910 sv% |
Anders Nilsson 6-4-1 2.79 GAA, .924 sv% |
