I believe it was Canadian legend Shania Twain that said it best, when she said…
And up, up, up
Can only go up from here
Up, up, up
Where the clouds gonna clear
Up, up, up
There’s no way but up from here
Up, up, up, ooh
I’m goin’ up (I’m goin’ up)
I’m goin’ up (I’m goin’ up)
I’m goin’ up (I’m goin’ up)
Up, up, up, up, I’m goin’ up (I’m goin’ up)
Oh
Beautiful.
The Ottawa Senators continue their four-game series against the Vancouver Canucks later tonightish.
While it seems like most fans have accepted Ottawa’s role of spoiler at this point in the season, I would be lying if I said my eyes weren’t mostly gazing up in the standings recently.
Even though the playoffs are a longshot and some nerds might go so far as to suggest, impossible, I choose to believe otherwise. A Montreal loss here and a Montreal loss there, and nine more wins for your Ottawa Senators and bada-bing, bada-boom…we’re in.
Okay, even if that scenario is a tad far-fetched, I do like the idea of passing some teams down the stretch.
While such a statement would have been considered blasphemous in previous years, I have grown weary of the basement finishes. Done with ’em. Don’t need ’em, don’t want ’em. Not only have the last few years reinforced my belief that the draft is a crap-shoot and that Ottawa’s scouting staff will find good players regardless, I am just ready for the rising part of #OttawaRising.
With a win tonight, the Ottawa Senators would actually crawl out of the North Division basement. Something that many thought impossible earlier in the year. All this leads me to one conclusion. Tonight’s game is indeed…
THE BIGGEST GAME OF THE YEAR.
No game day skate planned for the Senators so we’ll have to wait until 7:25 PM just to confirm a lineup. Nick Paul is expected to play.
Here’s how the Senators lined up at practice yesterday.
Tkachuk-Norris-Batherson
Stützle-White-Dadonov
Formenton-Pinto-Brown
Paul-Tierney-Dzingel
Chabot-Zaitsev
Brannstrom-Zub
Mete-JBD (Josh Brown, duh)
Matt Murray gets the start in goal for Ottawa.
Puck drop is scheduled for 10:08 PM. Pace yourselves, people. The game is available on the CBC, the TSN1200 and the illegal streaming sites.
Here is a HEAD2HEAD table. Here is THE HEAD2HEAD TABLE!
| HEAD2HEAD |  |
 |
|---|---|---|
| Record | 17-26-4 (38 pts) | 18-19-3 (39 pts) |
| Goals For | 2.70 (T-20th) | 2.65 (22nd) |
| Goals Against | 3.51 (31st) | 3.18 (25th) |
| Power Play | 17.6% (25th) | 19.5% (20th) |
| Penalty Kill | 78.1% (21st) | 77.2% (23rd) |
| Shots For | 30.4 (8th) | 30.0 (11th) |
| Shots Against | 32.3 (28th) | 33.8 (31st) |
| Leading Scorers | Batherson- 30 pts Tkachuk- 30 pts Norris- 30 pts Brown- 28 pts Chabot- 28 pts |
Boeser- 36 pts Hughes- 31 pts Miller- 31 pts Horvat- 30 pts Pettersson- 21 pts |
| Starting Goalie | Matt Murray 10-13-1 3.39GAA, .892 sv% |
Braden Holtby 6-6-2 3.41 GAA, .901 sv% |
