The Ottawa Senators begin a crucial home and ho...oh who are we kidding as there isn't much more to play for this season except pride and for jobs for next season.
The Senators host the Hurricanes in the first part of a home and home with the return matchup Monday night in Raleigh.
Carolina is still clinging to the faintest of playoff hopes, but with just 8 games remaining and trailing the Devils by 9 points they would pretty much need to win out and have the Devils and Panthers collapse in order to reach the post-season.
The Hurricanes have been derailed, much like the Senators, by disappointing goaltending performances. Scott Darling was supposed to be the guy who transitioned from Chicago backup to starter but that experiment flopped at least for this year and Cam Ward hasn't shown that he can be a legit starter as he ages. The result is that they hung on for a while but losing six of their last 9 (and allowing 40 goals against in that stretch) has them in the situation they find themselves in now.
Ottawa has allowed 13 goals in their last two games, played without their two best players in Mark Stone and Erik Karlsson, neither of whom are expected back imminently. Craig Anderson started both of those games, and allowed 10 goals on 55 shots, in his 87 or so minutes. Mike Condon replaced him in the Florida game and allowed 3 goals on 22 shots to the Panthers, and will get the start Saturday against the Canes.
The Senators have allowed 33 or more shots in eight of the last 9, so goaltending isn't the only issue, but its the root of the problem and has been for much of the season. Filip Gustavsson, the goalie acquired from Pittsburgh in the Derick Brassard trade, will have a lot of eyes on him when he makes his Belleville Senators debut, whether that comes tonight in Toronto against the Marlies, tomorrow back home against the Laval Rocket, or if they save his debut for next weekend. Gustavsson has completed the paperwork, spent Thursday in Ottawa and attended the Oilers-Senators game before heading to Belleville. If that performance by his future teammates didn't scare him back to Sweden, that is a good sign.
While you might expect this to be a high-scoring game given the struggles between the pipes for the respective teams, they played to a 2-1 Carolina win in their only meeting of the season in late January. That game was the sixth in a Senators season-high six game losing streak.
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Pierre Dorion held a season ticket holders conference call yesterday and there were a few significant mentions..
- Eugene Melnyk will hold a couple of "Town-hall" meetings in the coming weeks with fans to address, quell or otherwise, the recent gap that has developed between the owner and the fan base. It will be interesting to see the format and the structure of these meetings, as well as who will be invited. It will also be interesting to see if the same level of ire that has arisen when people sit behind their keyboards will come out when they have the opportunity to do it in person, and how the owner will react if it does.
- Dorion will evaluate all aspects of the club from players to coaches and despite the vote of confidence given to Guy Boucher in December stated that despite knowing he is a good coach his fi will have to be examined.
- the GM admitted that buying players out will be an option to be considered in the offseason, but admitted that it is the less preferable option to finding a trade to get certain assets off the payroll.
- He also indicated that the plan is to re-sign all three of Stone, Matt Duchene and Karlsson, and that the latter will get a contract offer on July 1st (not sure if he added the caveat of "if he is still a Senator" like he did after the trade deadline).
If he can get all three signed, and under whatever the Salary Cap is at when the time comes, then he is a magician considering the handcuffs that he is still constrained by (Bobby Ryan, Marian Gaborik to name but two).