The Washington Capital did the Senators a huge favour on Tuesday night. The Sens will be hoping to face an equally cooperative Capitals squad tomorrow night in DC.
With a win over the Ovechkin and the Caps, the Senators would clinch a berth in the playoffs. In fact, things are pretty simple for the Sens now- a win in their last three games and they officially punch their ticket to the dance. And it looks like they may have a familiar face in the line up for Thursday’s game.
The Sens were on the ice for practice this morning and obviously the biggest development is where the defending Norris Trophy winner skated. For the first time since his injury, Karlsson found his way into the top 3 defence pairings, skating alongside his usual defence partner in Marc Methot.
No confirmation from the team just yet but that certainly seems like a sign Karlsson is ready to return. Here is how the Sens lined up at this morning’s practice.
Conacher-Turris-Michalek
Greening-Smith-Alfredsson
Silfverberg-Zibanejad-Condra
Latendresse-Pageau-Neil
Methot-Karlsson
Cowen-Gonchar
Phillips-Gryba
A pretty significant line up shuffle ahead of a huge game.
While a Winnipeg loss against the Canadiens on Thursday would have the same effect, the Sens want to make sure they take care of their own business and head into the playoffs on a high note. After the game in Washington, the Sens play a Saturday/Sunday back to back against the Flyers and Bruins.
Washington has the Southeast division locked up and are settled into the third spot in the conference. Much like the game against the Penguins, the Sens will be playing against a team with limited motivation but as they learned on Monday, that certainly doesn’t mean an automatic two points.
Safe to say assume the return of Erik Karlsson would give this team a huge boost tomorrow night.
