Ottawa Senators

Game Day: Lightning @ Senators - someone cover Kucherov!
March 14, 2017, 9:54 AM ET [18 Comments]
Jared Crozier
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The Ottawa Senators will be looking to avoid the "first game home after a long road trip" curse and continue their perfect month as they March toward the playoffs.

Tampa Bay is the opponent tonight, and they are coming of a 3-2 win over the Rangers in Manhattan last night, and they won while managing just 16 shots on goal.

The key for the Senators in this one will be to either a) stay out of the penalty box altogether or b) if they do find themselves shorthanded, make sure they know where Nikita Kucherov is. If their last matchup is any indication, Ottawa will find him in the faceoff circle ready for a one-timer, because that was a recipe for Lightning success the last time around. Kucherov scored three times, on three almost identical one-timers from the same area in the second period just over two weeks ago, and that was the difference in Tampa's 5-1 win.

The Lightning have been struck by the injury bug in much the same way as the Senators, and they have been hit up the middle. In one game last week, Tyler Johnson, Cedric Paquette and Vladislav Namestnikov all went down with injuries. Namestnikov is back, but Johnson and Paquette both are still day to day and missed last night's game against the Rangers. That has forced Jon Cooper to scramble to find guys to take faceoffs, as they had dealt Brian Boyle and Valtteri Filppula at the deadline and Steven Stamkos is out. That meant that of their top seven players who had taken the most draws for the team this season, Namestnikov and Brayden Point were the only ones that played last night, and Namestnikov might not be completely right because he played the wing and took 0 faceoffs. They had 7 different players take faceoffs, and it showed as they won just 39% against the Rangers.

Which means that it is a perfect time for a return of Ottawa's #1 centre, as Kyle Turris should be good to go tonight after missing the three games on the road trip with a bad finger. Whether he is ready to take faceoffs is another story, but having him back in the lineup will be a boon to the depleted top 6. We also got word that Bobby Ryan may be able to return this week (EDIT: it looks like it might be tonight) from his own finger injury, but the news on Mark Stone was not as optimistic, as he is listed as week to week with the lower body injury that has already cost him two games.

The Senators have won 6 straight, and are putting pressure on the Canadiens for first place in the Atlantic, while the Lightning's win last night put them just a point back of the Maple Leafs for the last wild card spot in the Eastern Conference.

This should be a good one as both have something to play for, with the Lightning likely to show a little desperation as they have clawed their way back into the mix among adversity and would like to be in range when they finally get Steven Stamkos back from injury, which would be a huge boost to their hopes of not only making the playoff, but making some noise in the postseason.

This game could feature two of the Norris Trophy finalists as Erik Karlsson faces off against sometimes international defense partner and fellow Swede Victor Hedman. Karlsson had an assist taken away from following Saturday night's game, so he is now back to being one short of 50 for the season, and trails Norris favorite Brent Burns by 8 points. Hedman is third among defensemen in scoring, four points back of Karlsson.

After dealing Ben Bishop at the trade deadline, Tampa will give the crease to Andrei Vasilevskiy, who will get the start tonight after Peter Budaj gave him a rest against the Rangers. Craig Anderson should get the start for the Senators. {EDIT: At the morning skate those in attendance were surprised to see Chris Driedger lead the team out for warmup, followed by Mike Condon...no Anderson. Anderson is out with a lower body injury, as a result of post-game in Colorado. It is not known how much time he will miss}