The Ottawa Senators continue to find new and remarkable ways to lose hockey games.
Second periods have been an issue for this team all year but on Saturday night, they finally turned in a decent middle frame, outscoring the Leafs 3-0. They went into the third period in complete control of the hockey game. It turned out they didn’t avoid the in-game meltdown completely though. Only delayed it by a period.
Now they look to put Saturday’s embarrassing loss behind them as they hit the road for a tough back to back in Minnesota and St. Louis.
38 games to go, folks.
Not that there are an easy games for a team stuck at the bottom of the standings, but these three pre-All Star weekend games have the potential to be especially tough for the Senators.
Minnesota, St. Louis and Boston. Two of those three teams are currently sitting in playoff spots and the Bruins and Wild have been two of the league’s hottest teams as of late. To make matters worse, it sounds like there are a number of players that are a little banged up right now for Ottawa.
This morning, the team announced that Chris DiDomenico and Erik Burgdoerfer have been recalled from Belleville.
Mark Stone was briefly on the ice for the morning skate but left early and isn’t expected to play. Chris DiDomenico took his spot up front. Freddy Claesson will draw in for the injured Johnny Oduya. Here’s how Boucher lined them up this morning.
Dzingel-Brassard-DiDomenico
Hoffman-Duchene-Ryan
Smith-White-Pyatt
Burrows-Chlapik-Dumont
Chabot-Karlsson
Phaneuf-Ceci
Borowiecki-Claesson
Mike Condon gets the start for Ottawa. Puck drop is scheduled for just after 8:00 PM.
 |
 |
|
|---|---|---|
| Record | 15-20-9 (39 pts) | 25-17-5 (55 pts) |
| Goals For | 2.73 (23rd) | 2.89 (15th) |
| Goals Against | 3.45 (29th) | 2.81 (T-15th) |
| Power Play | 15.6% (26th) | 19.4% (16th) |
| Penalty Kill | 75.2% (28th) | 83.1% (7th) |
| Shots For/Shots Against | 30.2 (24th) 32.6 (23rd) |
29.8 (29th) 31.9 (14th) |
| Scoring Leaders | Stone- 44 pts Karlsson- 31 pts Hoffman- 30 pts |
Staal- 40 pts Granlund- 36 pts Zucker- 34 pts |
| Team Save % | .894% (29th) | .912% (T-15th) |
| Chance of Playoffs | 0.5% | 40.2% |
