With almost no margin for error from here on out, the Ottawa Senators begin the final 7 game sprint to the finish line with a quick visit to Detroit to face the Red Wings.
Just a quick reset of the situation - Ottawa trails Boston by 3 points and the Capitals and Red Wings by 6. THe Sens play both Washington (later this week) and Detroit (tonight) and have a game in hand on Boston and Washington, and are even in GP with the Wings. Right on the heels of the Senators are the Panthers, just a point back.
All 5 teams in this mix play tonight, with 4 of them in head to head contests. In addition to Ottawa-Detroit, Florida plays in Boston and Washington hosts Carolina. Obviously, Ottawa needs to take care of its own business and hope that Florida can do something that the Rangers couldn't do last week, and that is beat the Bruins after previously knocking off the Senators. A win from Carolina would also help immensely.
So with that scene set, back to Senators-Wings.
The Wings have stumbled in the last couple of weeks, bringing them back within striking distance of those teams fighting for the Wild Card spot. They haven't got the goaltending, to the point where the starting job was taken away from Jimmy Howard and handed to Petr Mrazek last week. The young former Ottawa 67's star responded with a shutout, but then proceeded to get pulled after allowing 4 goals on 11 shots on Sunday against the Islanders.
The Wings have yet to confirm who will start (but it is widely assumed to be Howard), and the same can be said for the Senators, who have a decision of their own to make. Andrew Hammond declared himself fit to start after a back injury suffered last week, while Craig Anderson has suffered the brunt of being hung out to dry on a lot of occasions in his last two starts, both losses. EDIT: THE GOALIE MATCHUP WILL BE ANDREW HAMMOND VS PETR MRAZEK
As for the line combinations, after practice yesterday it appeared that Zack Smith will be in for Colin Greening, and much to the chagrin of many members of Sens Army it looks like he will be starting alongside Mika Zibanejad and Bobby Ryan, with leading goal scorer Mike Hoffman back on a line with David Legwand and power play interrupter Alex Chiasson.
Best case scenario for the night is Ottawa, Florida and Carolina all coming away with regulation wins. That would cut the game to a single point behind the Bruins and also draw within 4 of Washington and Detroit.
The worst case scenario is an Ottawa loss, in which case no matter what else happens the chance of Ottawa qualifying to play past April 9th will go down significantly, because at minimum they will be 3 points back with another team (the Panthers) to jump over, or they will be 5 points back with 6 to play.
Some of you don't like the use of the phrase, but if that doesn't make this one a "must win" game then I don't know what does.
So who would you start - Hammond or Anderson?