With playoff hopes fading fast, the Ottawa Senators had better be in desperation mode and not go on their Christmas break early as they close off this portion of their schedule in Sunrise against the Florida Panthers.
Unfortunately, some of the lineup will be forced to start their break early, as both Bobby Ryan and Zack Smith will likely miss this game with injury (Smith was placed on IR and will miss about two weeks), and Craig Anderson is also unlikely to start due to illness.
I assume Dion Phaneuf will be rejoining the team after the birth of his child on Thursday, meaning Ben Harpur will likely come out, with Filip Chlapik and the newly recalled Chris DiDomenico being inserted in the lineup.
With 49 games remaining in their season, the Senators will have to win 2 out of every 3 games to get to 95 points, the accepted playoff threshold. That might be a big ask of a team that has won just 3 of their last 17, but you have to start somewhere. The fact that they are closer to dead last (9 points with only 2 teams to pass) than they are to a playoff spot (10 points with 7 teams to pass) doesn't bode well.
They will be catching the Panthers on the second half of a back to back, after the Cats beat the Wild 4-2 on Friday night. Jonathan Huberdeau scored twice for the Panthers. James Reimer has started all 8 games since Roberto Luongo went down with injury on Dec 4th, including one back to back, so it would appear that they are hesitant to give backup and longtime minor league Harri Sateri his first NHL action. Dating back to his Maple Leafs days, Reimer has always seemed to have the Senators' number, and he has a 11-5-2 record with a .925 save percentage against the Sens.
The Panthers are the team right ahead of the Senators, and if the Senators lose this one in regulation they will be 5 points back and even if they win the two games the have in hand, they still wouldn't catch Florida.
However, if they can take this one in regulation, they would cut the gap to 1 with two games in hand, and at least enter the 3-day break on a positive note, something that they haven't had for that length of time since they got back from Sweden.