Ottawa Senators

Game Day: Senators @ Wild - jump on a struggling opponent
March 30, 2017, 8:48 AM ET [11 Comments]
Jared Crozier
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As if the Ottawa Senators needed more motivation heading into the playoff stretch. The entire Senators used some time on their off day in Minneapolis-St. Paul to pay a visit to a local Ottawa area boy who has fought much bigger battles in all of his young life than most of the players have fought on the ice. Jonathan Pitre, who has brought awareness to a debilitating and very rare skin disease, is in Minnesota awaiting a second stem cell transplant to hopefully begin a cure to his ailments.

Pitre will be in attendance tonight as the Senators turn their attention to try to get back on track, and secure their playoff positioning just a little bit more as they face the Wild. The Wild are reeling, and no team wants to see the month of March come to an end more than them. What was once a close Central Division race has now become a coronation of the Blackhawks, and the Wild have fallen 9 points back of their nemesis. They are just 3-10-2 this month, and have lost their last 4 games (the last 2 coming in extra time).

Their power play is 0-for-12 in their last 4 games, while they have allowed 5 power play goals against in their last 3 games, on just 8 chances, so the Senators are catching them at a time where not much is going right.

Meanwhile, for all the criticism that has been levelled at the Senators in terms of inconsistent play and not playing to their potential, March has still been pretty successful - minus the 0-2-1 record against Montreal - with an 8-1-2 record against everyone else. Its a good sign that they are getting points despite roller-coaster play, but at some point I think they just need to put down 2 or 3 solid, dominant performances in a row to show they are ready for Mid-April and hopefully beyond.

Craig Anderson shouldered a load of the blame for the shootout loss to the Flyers on Tuesday, knowing he made a huge misread on the play that resulted in the tying goal, where he gave it away behind his own net to Jordan Weal. You can bet he will be focused to make up for that gaffe and I would expect him to have a standout game in this one.


Minnesota beat Ottawa 2-1 in overtime when the teams met in Ottawa in November, in what was a goaltender duel between Craig Anderson (40 saves) and Darcy Kuemper (35 saves). However, it will apparently be recently recalled Alex Stalock in the Minnesota net for this matchup as Bruce Boudreau looks for an answer while getting Devan Dubnyk some rest with the playoffs approaching.

Scoring first has been a key for the Senators, even if too often they give that goal back and fail to extend the lead and have to fight to get it back. Minnesota has to be in a frail state of mind, and the Senators can make their night a whole lot simpler by coming out hot and getting a couple on the board early against a goalie who hasn't played an NHL game in more than 13 months, and to take away any bit of confidence that might be left in the Wild from their good performance against the Capitals on Tuesday that fell just short. If the Wild can get on the board first their confidence will skyrocket and the floodgates could open.