Win and you’re in. It’s that simple for the Ottawa Senators tonight as they visit the Washington Capital.
In fact, any combination of two points, either gained by the Sens or loss by the Jets, means Ottawa locks up their spot in the Eastern Conference playoffs. And as much as fans will be keeping a keen on the happenings in Winnipeg, the players will be focused on earning their way in, with a win over the recently crowned Southeast Champs. Oh and by the way, they’ll have their best player back in the line up.
When Erik Karlsson went down just ten weeks ago, it looked like his season was done.
But here we are less than three months later and the defending Norris Trophy winner is set to return to the Ottawa line up. There are those that will have you believe he’s rushing it and shouldn’t be back this soon but rest assured the organization has taken every precaution to ensure he is 100%. He’s playing because he’s ready to play. Karlsson has worked extremely hard to get back in the line up because he cares, he wants to play and he wants to help this team win. Ottawa really is lucky to have a guy like Karlsson in the organization.
It will be interesting to see how Head Coach Paul MacLean plans to ease his star defenceman back into the line up. For what it’s worth, Karlsson said if he’s playing, it’s in his usual top pairing role.
Lost in the hype of the Karlsson return is the fact that the forward lines have undergone a complete overhaul. Here is how the Sens are expected to line up for this one.
Conacher-Turris-Michalek
Greening-Smith-Alfredsson
Silfverberg-Zibanejad-Condra
Latendresse-Pageau-Neil
Methot-KARLSSON
Cowen-Gonchar
Phillips-Gryba
Craig Anderson gets the start in the Ottawa goal. Michal Neuvirth starts for Washington. Puck drop is just after 7:00 PM with the game available on TSN.
GO SENS GO!
