At the start of this four game road trip, fans and media talked about it as a defining moment in the Ottawa Senators’ season. And so far, the results haven’t been great.
Ottawa came away with a loser point in Philadelphia and followed that up with a regulation loss a couple nights later in Colorado. Now they limp into Arizona with hopes at a playoff spot rapidly fading away. The Senators come into tonight’s game eight points back of the final playoff spot in the East.
And even though this is only the half way point of the season, that’s a pretty significant gap. Certainly not impossible but getting there.
At the same time, it’s getting difficult to not glance the other way in the standings. The Senators currently sit 23rd overall, with a few teams behind them within striking distance. The Arizona Coyotes are one of those teams and they have actually been playing some decent hockey the last little while. They have won six of their last ten, including a 4-1 win over the Jets on Thursday.
Couple line up changes expected for the Senators ahead of this game including one up front and one on defence. On the blueline, Chris Phillips draws back in while Patrick Wiercioch returns to the pressbox. Up front, Curtis Lazar, fresh off a Gold medal win for Team Canada, will return to the Ottawa line up. Looks like Colin Greening is the odd-man out.
Here’s how the Senators are expected to line up for this one.
MacArthur-Turris-Chiasson
Hoffman-Pageau-Ryan
Condra-Zibanejad-Lazar
Michalek-Legwand-Stone
Methot-Karlsson
Cowen-Ceci
Phillips-Gryba
Craig Anderson gets the start in the Ottawa goal. Puck drop is scheduled for just after 7:00 PM with the game available on good ol’ CityTV.
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