There are just four games remaining in the regular season and for the Ottawa Senators, the playoffs remain very much in doubt.
And while the Senators do control their own fate over the next week, they’ll need to pick up a couple wins to assure themselves an invite when the playoffs start in just over a week from now. It starts tonight with a match up against the top team in the Eastern Conference, the Pittsburgh Penguins.
And while the Pens have won six straight and assured themselves top spot in the East, they roll into Ottawa with a significantly depleted line up. They are expected to be without a number of start players including Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, James Neal, Kris Letang and Paul Martin.
The Senators, meanwhile, are coming off another disappointing Saturday night loss to their provincial rivals. Ottawa dominated the game for large stretches of play but just couldn’t’ find a way to get pucks past James Reimer. The good news is they generated plenty of chances and have something to build off of going into Monday night’s game.
Obviously the big storyline coming into this one, aside from the two points the Sens desperately need, is this is the first time Ottawa and Pittsburgh have played since the much talked about Matt Cooke/Erik Karlsson incident. And while most agree that it’s hard to suggest Cooke cut Karlsson on purpose, there is still plenty of ill will left over from the unfortunate incident.
And clearly, not everybody is willing to let it go just yet.
The Sens need to focus on their own business but will likely have one eye on that out of town scoreboard. The Winnipeg Jets are in Buffalo tonight in a game they have to win. If the Jets lose in Buffalo, Ottawa’s path to the playoffs becomes that much easier. An Ottawa win and a Winnipeg loss would mean the Senators clinch a spot.
No changes expected for the Sens in this one. Erik Karlsson took the morning skate but still isn't quite ready to return to the line up. No line up changes apparently. Had Latendresse in there initially but he will not play according to MacLean.
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Puck drop is just after 7:30 PM.
