The Senators and Wild square off for the first time this season, as Ottawa will visit Minny at the end of the month to wrap up the season series. While the Sens playoff fate is pretty much sealed, the Wild enter the contest holding the final wildcard spot despite having an almost identical record (2 loser points being the difference) as their opponent tonight. With 7 of the 8 spots in the west pretty much set, it will be either the Wild or the Avs that capture the final spot. Neither team is really pushing at this point, and both of the contenders have just 5-5 records in their last 10 games.
Really all that is left to play for from the Ottawa standpoint is Erik Karlsson's Norris Trophy quest, Mark Stone's Team Canada pursuit and seeing just how high Zack Smith can make his career totals rise and extend his unlikely scoring streak.
Other than that, it is more experience for the likes of Curtis Lazar, Ryan Dzingel, Nick Paul and Cody Ceci as the club winds down the season.
While so much has been talked about the slumps of their most offensively talented players at different times (Mark Stone, Bobby Ryan, Mike Hoffman, Kyle Turris), the fact is, their offense hasn't been the problem, unless you count its inability to outscore their opponents every night.
It is, and has been, their defensive play is what has put them in this position. They have allowed the most goals in the league and are 4th worst in team GA/GP and dead last in shots against, where they have been pretty much sense the opening puck drop.
Minnesota, on the other hand has been proving that you can win with defense as well, as they come in with defense and keeping games close.
This will be a game where one prolific offense will be trying to break a solid defense while attempting to counter-attack and chip in when the opportunities arise.
It is understandably hard to get up for games at this point in the season, and probably even more so when the opponent is one of the more nondescript teams for the Ottawa fan-base in the league without a big rivalry or a lot of connection to each others franchise. It is just 1 in 82 from that perspective, with far more on the line for the Wild than the Senators.