The clock is ticking.
Just 24 games remaining in the regular season and the Ottawa Senators are in a hole. As of puck drop on Saturday, the Sens sit a full seven points back of the Boston Bruins for the final spot in the Eastern Conference. And with no head to head games left against the Bruins and Boston playing some of their best hockey of the season, it’s a long shot.
It has to start with a big ol’ Saturday night win over the rival Toronto Maple Leafs though. Not a “must win” by the literal definition but this feels like a game they gotta have.
Tonight kicks off a stretch of five straight on the road, including stops in Toronto, Edmonton, Calgary, Seattle and Vancouver. If the Sens are gonna drag themselves back into the playoff picture, it will have to include some strong efforts away from home.
We’ll confirm this lineup after the morning skate.
Batherson-Stützle-Giroux
Tkachuk-Cozens-Greig
Cousins-Pinto-Amadio
Halliday-Eller-Zetterlund
Sanderson-Zub
Chabot-Jensen
Kleven-Spence
Puck drop is at 7:08 PM. The game is available on CBC and Sportsnet. Streams will reveal themselves a little closer to game time.
The HEAD2HEAD table will fill in the rest of the blanks.
| HEAD2HEAD |  |
 |
|---|---|---|
| Record | 28-22-8 (64 pts) | 27-23-9 (63 pts) |
| Goals For | 3.26 (13th) | 3.22 (14th) |
| Goals Against | 3.21 (23rd) | 3.42 (27th) |
| Power Play | 23.4% (8th) | 19.6% (18th) |
| Penalty Kill | 72.8% (30th) | 83.8% (4th) |
| Shots For | 28.5 (14th) | 27.5 (19th) |
| Shots Against | 24.4 (1st) | 31.8 (32nd) |
| Leading Scorers | Stutzle-61 pts Batherson-49 pts Sanderson-46 pts Cozens-43 pts Giroux-39 pts |
Nylander-52 pts Matthews-48 pts Tavares-47 pts Knies-46 pts EkmanLarsson-34 pts |
| Starting Goalie | Linus Ullmark 16-8-5 2.83 GAA, .884 sv% |
Joseph Woll 13-7-4 2.76 GAA, .910 sv% |