The Ottawa Senators have now won seven straight and in the process, surged into the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
Their unbelievable ascent up the standing has caught the entire hockey world off guard and apparently left one major sports network in complete denial. Yet despite what ESPN may want to believe, it’s real. The Senators find themselves in the thick of the Eastern Conference playoff race with just ten games to play.
If Ottawa is going to secure a spot, they probably need to win six of their final ten games. Five might get it done but it would be damn close. A look ahead at the next ten games shows a handful of difficult games that will certainly test Dave Cameron’s team down the stretch.
They’ll face one of the top teams in the league tonight at the Canadian Tire Centre.
As hot as the Senators have been through late February and most of March, the New York Rangers have been on a pretty impressive run of their own. In a similar situation, the Rangers lost their starting goalie and have rallied around the back up Cam Talbot. New York trails Montreal by just one point for top spot in the league.
The Senators are on the ice for an optional morning skate so line combinations will be a little tricky to figure out. Although based on Cameron’s updates yesterday, it looks like they’ll go with the same 12 forwards as Monday night against San Jose. Clarke MacArthur is aiming for a weekend return. That means that for now, both Zack Smith and Colin Greening would remain in the line up. No changes expected on defence. Here’s how the Senators are expected to line up for this one.
Stone-Turris-Chiasson
Hoffman-Zibanejad-Ryan
Condra-Pageau-Lazar
Greening-Legwand-Smith
Methot-Karlsson
Wiercioch-Ceci
Borowiecki-Gryba
Andrew Hammond gets the start for Ottawa. Puck drop is scheduled for just after 7:30 PM.
Go. Sens. Go.
