Less than 24 hours after a shocking road win over the powerhouse Vegas Golden Knights, the Ottawa Senators are right back at it against the league’s worst team- the Arizona Coyotes.
There aren’t many nights when the Senators would be considered anything close to favourites but that just might be the case tonight as they visit the 31st ranked team in the National Hockey League.
The Yotes come into this one with a 19-34-10 record, six points back of the Senators. They have a -55 goal differential (only the Sabres are worse) and they’ve scored a league-low 153 goals.
Easy pickings, right?
Well not so fast. Because those lowly Coyotes are HEATING up.
They’ve got a 7-2-1 record in their last ten games, including a 5-3 win over the Minnesota Wild on Thursday night. And they already beat the Senators back in Ottawa earlier in the year.
Arizona once looked like a lock to finish last but this recent hot streak has closed the gap a little bit on the Sabres and Senators.
Big four point game tonight.
Despite the wishes of some, it’s abundantly clear that the Senators have no intention of losing all of their remaining games. Pretty selfish, if you ask me.
They went toe to toe with the Golden Knights last night and absolutely looked like they could play with them. It may have been a case of playing up to their opponent but it sure is frustrating to see those flashes of the team we thought they could be. Fun for a night, anyway.
No game day skate for the Senators today so a best guess at the line up for now.
Hoffman-Duchene-Pyatt
Ryan-Pageau-Stone
Paajarvi-Smith-Dzingel
McCormick-O’Brien-Burrows
Claesson-Karlsson
Chabot-Ceci
Borowiecki-Harpur
Mike Condon is expected to get the start for Ottawa. Puck drop is scheduled for just after 8:08 PM. Coyotes will take a 1-0 by 8:11 PM.
