Nothing like a random five day break in the middle of the season to make you appreciate watching your favourite hockey team.
After wrapping up their league-mandated and seemingly unnecessary five day bye week, the Ottawa Senators finally return to action tonight when they play host to Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals. The Edmonton Oilers are in town tomorrow and then Ottawa has another THREE days off before their next game.
At least they’ll be able to get in a couple practices during that break.
When we last saw our Ottawa Senators, they came up one goal short against these same Washington Capitals. It was their third straight loss, with the previous two coming at the hands of the New York Rangers and the Detroit Red Wings. Losing streaks are never good but with the rest of the Atlantic Division quickly closing in, the Senators need to start banking some points to hold on to their spot in the top three.
Heading into tonight, the Senators are tied at 44 points with both Toronto and Boston. Tampa Bay has 42 points. Ottawa has games in hand on all those teams- 1 game on the Leafs, 4 on the Bruins and 3 on the Lightning.
If the playoffs started today, the Senators would host…the Toronto Maple Leafs. Eeep.
The Capitals roll into town as one of the hottest teams in the league, fresh off a convincing win over the Columbus Blue Jackets, ending their 16 game winning streak in the process. The Caps have won four straight and have a 6-2-2 record in their last ten. Their 24-9-5 record has them sitting in the first Wild Card position in the East.
Guy Boucher had his team on the ice for a rare Friday night practice and aside from Craig Anderson, everyone was in attendance. Zack Smith was back on a line with Derick Brassard and Mark Stone which seems to indicate he’ll be back in the line up tonight. Here’s how the Coach had his team lined up last night.
Smith-Brassard-Stone
Dzingel-Turris-Ryan
Hoffman-Pageau-Pyatt
Kelly-Lazar-Neil
Methot-Karlsson
Phaneuf-Ceci
Borowiecki-Wideman
Mike Condon is expected to get the start in the Ottawa goal. Puck drop is scheduled for just after 7:00 PM.
-A heads up on an upcoming hockey tournament for a great cause! The 2017 Heart & Stroke Hockey for Heart tournament is being held on April 22nd and 23rd and registration is now open. This recreational-level hockey tournament provides hockey players and fans from across Ottawa with the opportunity to participate in a heartwarming event raising critical life-saving funds for the Heart and Stroke Foundation. For more information on this year’s event and to learn how you can participate, head to their website. Maybe we need to put a SensChirp team together?
-For the third straight year, SensChirp has been nominated for a Faces Awards for Ottawa’s Best Blog. Okay, it may have something to do with the fact that I write a monthly column for their magazine, but still! I won the award in 2015 but came up short last year and there has been a Faces Award sized hole in my heart ever since. In hindsight, I may have jumped the gun buy building that shelf for all my blogging awards. So maybe cast a vote or ten for me this year? You can vote once a day per IP address. And you can just vote in one category so don’t feel like you need to make the tough decision on Ottawa’s Angler of the Year. Vote here!
