It seems pretty cocky to say that the Ottawa Senators now have a bit of breathing room in the playoff race, when they still trail the Boston Bruins and Washington Capitals. But thanks to the Lightning win over the Bruins Sunday, the Senators do have a little bit of breathing room.
Ottawa will face the reeling San Jose Sharks tonight with the opportunity to pass the Bruins outright and move into the final Wild Card playoff spot while still holding a game in hand.
After weeks of stepping on the ice knowing that a loss at any given time could have easily unraveled lots of hard work and fortunate results, the Senators can afford to lose a game and still control their own fate.
Granted, they would be even better served not to let up at all and to continue the momentum they have built over the last month plus, and to keep the roll going.
Up next are the San Jose Sharks, who have fallen off the pace in the Western Conference playoff race. They trail the Calgary Flames by 6 points in the Pacific Division as they enter the final 10 games of the season, and they are even 2 more points back of the Jets for the final Wild Card spot.
The Sharks couldn't solve Carey Price on Saturday night and were shut out 2-0 by the Habs, making it losses in 3 of their last 4 games, with their only win coming against the Maple Leafs. This will be the middle game of a marathon 7 game road trip for the Sharks who are still on the road for another week.
Despite having 3 players in the top 30 NHL scorers (Pavelski, Thornton, Couture) as well as one of the highest scoring defensemen in Brent Burns, the Sharks are a middle of the pack offense and are in the bottom third in terms of goals against.
Friction between the de-facto captain Thornton and GM Doug Wilson hasn't helped matters in terms of team cohesion and being on the same page.
Ottawa just needs to continue the role they started way back on Feb 10th, even pre-dating Andrew Hammond's miracle run. In that 20 game span the Senators have taken 34 out of 40 points. That stretch includes the game in San Jose where Ottawa scored 3 times in the third period to erase a 2-1 deficit to win 4-2 in the only other meeting of the season between these two teams.
Since their loss to Boston the Senators have reeled off another 6 wins in a row, and while Hammond has sort of come down to earth in the last couple of games but the Senators have still found a way to win.
While some Senators have been slumping of late, one player who has really stepped his game up has been Kyle Turris. Turris has 5 points in the last two games and is coming off back to back two goal efforts.
Erik Karlsson is one goal away from tying his career high and getting his second career 20 goal season, after reaching the milestone last year. Karlsson trails fellow countryman Oliver Ekman-Larsson by a goal as Larsson reached the 20 goal mark Sunday night. Incredibly, OEL has more goals than assists (20G-16A), a pretty rare feat for an elite defenseman.
With a tough game on Thursday against one of the league's top teams in the New York Rangers, the Senators definitely want to put some more points in the bank tonight to put the pressure on the Bruins to make up ground, and also reel the Capitals back to them.