Following a mostly restful week, the Ottawa Senators are set to get back in action tonight with a matchup against the Detroit Red Wings. Thanks to some lackluster play from the New Jersey Devils this week, tonight’s game won’t *actually* be a Battle of the Worst. Instead, it’s a tilt between the 29th place Senators and the 31st ranked Red Wings.
While the Red Wings have created some distance between themselves and the rest of the pack in the race for top draft lottery odds, the Senators are clumped together with that next batch of teams. While they sit 29th, as mentioned, they are only three points outside 27th and seven points outside 24th. That’s with games in hand on every team immediately above them in the standings too. A string of good games could absolutely crater their lottery odds, which is why losing remains important.
But, losing to a team like the Red Wings isn’t easy. Their -72 goal differential to this point in the year is historic. They can’t score, they can’t defend, and they don’t get NHL-quality goaltending. I’m not a “hockey man… in the traditional sense, but that doesn’t sound like a recipe for success to me. It is, however, an expertly crafted tank in a year when the top prize is astoundingly talented.
Whether they win or lose tonight, the Senators will do so with Marcus Hogberg in net. Hogberg, 25, has appeared in seven games for Ottawa this year, amassing a record of 1-2-2 with a 3.42 goals against average and .894 save percentage. While he had some promising appearances earlier in the year, his last few have been less than stellar. He’ll get a real opportunity to bounce back against a team that often looks like it would struggle to beat a local men’s league goalie.
Per TSN 1200, the lineup in front of Hogberg might look something like this, if yesterday’s practice is any indication:
Tkachuk-Pageau-Brown Duclair-Anisimov-Batherson Balcers-White-Ennis Namestnikov-Tierney-Sabourin
Chabot-Hainsey Reilly-DeMelo Englund-Goloubef
Note that Mark Borowiecki was sick yesterday, but is expected to slot in somewhere this evening. As a result, those defence pairings are likely not final.
Also worth mentioning is that both Drake Batherson and Rudolfs Balcers look as though they will remain in the lineup with fairly prominent offensive roles. That’s great news for Ottawa, as they’ve been effective since being called up from Belleville. The more consistent ice time they receive, the better they’ll get.
With Ottawa’s lineup getting healthy and relying more on talented young players like Balcers and Batherson, their odds of losing this game to the Red Wings have decreased. It’s not that the Senators are particularly good, but rather that Detroit is really, really bad. Looking to bounce back from a rather embarrassing loss to the Washington Capitals, it would surprise me if the Senators didn’t come out with the speed, effort, and tenacity that have combined to cause so many opposing teams problems this year. If everything clicks, it might be too much for the lowly Red Wings to overcome.
Enjoy the game!