With just eleven games left in the regular season, the Ottawa Senators are running out of time. We all are really.
A last-ditch, miracle run to the post-season is looking increasingly unlikely. While my foolish Sens fan heart would never admit it, a seven-point gap at this stage of the proceedings may be too much to overcome. Unless, now hear me out on this, they reel off a franchise-record 11-game winning streak that starts on home ice tonight?!
The Senators host the Tampa Bay Lightning at the Canadian Tire Centre on Thursday night.
Tyler Kleven won’t play in this one but we may not have to wait much longer before we see the 2020 2nd round pick in action.
Kleven signed his entry-level contract earlier this morning and according to Pierre Dorion, he’ll join the team for practice on Friday.
Dorion covered a few other topics during his media availability this morning, including updates on injured players. Parker Kelly has a broken knee cap (?!) and is done for the season. Meanwhile both Mathieu Joseph and Cam Talbot are expected to resume skating next week. He also mentioned that goaltending prospect Leevi Merilainen will join the team in Belleville.
You can catch the full interview with Dorion here.
For now though, it looks like the Senators plan to roll with a similar lineup as the other night in Boston.
Jakob Chychrun missed the morning skate but he’ll be good to go. Based on the pairings at the Game Day skate, it looks like he’ll spend some time playing the right side with Thomas Chabot.
Here’s how DJ lined ’em up this morning.
Tkachuk-Stützle-Giroux
DeBrincat-Pinto-Batherson
Brassard-Greig-Gambrell
Brown-Kastelic-Watson
Sanderson-Zub
Chabot-Chychrun
Brannstrom-Hamonic
No word on a starting goalie just yet.
Puck drop is scheduled for 7:08 PM at the Canadian Tire Centre. The game is available on TSN, RDS, TSN1200 and on shady streaming sites all across the information super-highway.
Wondering how these two cousins match-up? Let the HEAD2HEAD be your guide.
| HEAD2HEAD |  |
 |
|---|---|---|
| Record | 42-24-6 (90 pts) | 34-32-5 (73 pts) |
| Goals For | 3.43 (8th) | 3.08 (20th) |
| Goals Against | 3.04 (13th) | 3.24 (19th) |
| Power Play | 25.5% (3rd) | 23.7% (7th) |
| Penalty Kill | 79.8% (15th) | 82.4% (7th) |
| Shots For | 32.1 (13th) | 33.3 (7th) |
| Shots Against | 31.1 (16th) | 31.9 (23rd) |
| Leading Scorers | Kucherov- 100 pts Point- 82 pts Stamkos- 72 pts Hagel- 59 pts Killorn- 54 pts |
Stützle- 78 pts Tkachuk- 72 pts Giroux- 68 pts DeBrincat- 56 pts Batherson- 55 pts |
| Starting Goalie | TBD | TBD |
