With the Ottawa Senators - Montreal Canadiens showdown on the horizon, the Senators cannot look past the always tough Chicago Blackhawks, who provide the Thursday night opponent at Canadian Tire Centre.
Chicago is coming in off a 4-2 win in Montreal, to keep Ottawa within a point of the Habs, with Ottawa earning a point despite having their six game winning streak snapped by the Tampa Bay Lightning 3-2 in overtime on Tuesday.
Ottawa beat Chicago 4-3 in their previous meeting this season, just before Christmas.
Mike Condon got the win in that one, and he will get the start again this time with Craig Anderson still nursing the lower body injury that arose following the Colorado game. Scott Darling was in the Chicago net and took the loss, but the Senators should see Corey Crawford this time around.
For the Blackhawks, Patrick Kane sits tied for the league lead in scoring with Connor McDavid and Brad Marchand, and his linemate Artemi Panarin is also in the top 15 in scoring. However, their centre Artem Anisimov is now out for 3-4 weeks with a lower body injury. It will be a factor, but the veteran Hawks will adjust. They are 8-2 in their last 10 games and sit atop the Western Conference standings but are in a battle with San Jose and Minnesota for the top seed in the west.
Former Senators' first round pick and fan favorite Marian Hossa has 22 goals and passed the 20 goal mark for the 15th time in his 18 year career.
Ottawa has to continue its trend to play well against the top teams in the league, as their next couple of weeks provides a high level of competition, highlighted by the three-spot of games against the Habs that will go a long way to determining who will finish first in the Atlantic.
Ottawa has a trend of playing well against good teams, and they will have to continue that trend tonight if they are going to come out on top, because the Blackhawks are rounding into playoff form at the right time and will not be easy to beat.