On Thursday night in Vancouver, the Ottawa Senators let a chance slip away.
While the playoffs remain a long shot, a fifth straight win would have forced teams in the Eastern Conference to take notice.
Instead, a third period lead slipped through the fingers of Dave Cameron’s team and now they roll into Calgary looking to salvage the three game trip through Western Canada. A three game sweep would have been incredible. Two of three is pretty much a necessity.
Like every other team in Canada, this has been a pretty disappointing season for the Calgary Flames. They turned heads in the Western Conference last year, forcing their way into the playoffs on the back of incredible comeback after incredible comeback.
They’ve come crashing back down to Earth this year. The Flames currently sit 28th in the NHL, just five points clear of the last place Edmonton Oilers. Special teams have been a huge issue for Calgary this year- 29th ranked on the power play and 30th on the penalty kill. Not exactly a recipe for success.
Meanwhile on the Senators’ side of things, the focus will be on putting together a similar effort as the one they had in the first 40 minutes in Vancouver. That third period was a disaster but up until that point the Sens actually looked pretty solid. This is a game they need to win.
Looks like Dave Cameron will go with the same line up which means another game in the press box for Patrick Wiercioch and Shane Prince. Here’s how the Senators are expected to line up.
Hoffman-Turris-Stone
Dzingel-Zibanejad-Ryan
Smith-Pageau-Chiasson
Paul-Lazar-Neil
Methot-Karlsson
Phaneuf-Ceci
Borowiecki-Wideman
Craig Anderson is expected to start. Puck drop scheduled for just after 10:00 PM.
-Not surprising with the deadline a few days away but rumours are starting to swirl around a few Ottawa Senators. Shane Prince and Patrick Wiercioch are both believed to be available for the right price and apparently one team considering it is the Florida Panthers. Wiercioch has drawn some interest from the Western Conference, including the St. Louis Blues. In both instances, I’ve heard teams are offering mid-round picks. And then in a bit of a surprising update, Darren Dreger suggested that teams are calling about Alex Chiasson. Teams showing interest is the surprising part. That Ottawa might be willing to move him makes a lot of sense.
