Game 75 Hub: Ottawa Senators vs Philadelphia Flyers

Mar 30, 2023 - 5:43 PM

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Amazingly, the Ottawa Senators are still in the race for that second wildcard spot in the Eastern conference.

Though I’m not sure you can call it much of a race at this point. Rather than a finish line, that wildcard berth is more like a black hole, slowly pulling teams toward it, in spite of their efforts to resist it at all costs. How else do you explain the Sens going 3-6-1 in their last 10 games and still having a chance to qualify? Are teams that afraid of Boston?

Despite being a bad team overall, the Philadelphia Flyers, tonight’s opponents, are on a four-game winning streak, including victories over the Panthers and Wild. After a 3-2-1 stretch against playoff and Cup contenders, the Sens can’t afford to play down to their competition for a third time this month.

Below are the lines from the morning skate. Head coach D.J. Smith hasn’t confirmed a starter but signs point to Cam Talbot, who hasn’t played since March.

Game Notes:

• Thomas Chabot will miss the next few weeks with an upper-body injury suffered against the Panthers on Monday. With only eight games left, it’s likely he’ll be done for the regular season – if so, he’ll miraculously have played under 25 minutes a night for 2022-23.
• With an open spot on the blueline, Tyler Kleven will make his NHL debut tonight. A second-round selection from 2020 and one of three University of North Dakota alumni currently on the roster, the 6’4 left shot had a relatively productive junior year of college with 18 points in 35 games. Look for him to make an impact in a more literal sense tonight, on a pair with Nick Holden.
• Much like the Senators, the Flyers have dealt with injury woes all year long. In particular, Travis Konecny, with 54 points in 52 games, has been out with an upper-body injury since February 11th.
• Amidst the tough stretch of games featuring Toronto, Boston, New Jersey, Tampa Bay, Florida, and Pittsburgh, Ottawa’s shot metrics have been trending downwards, with their 5-on-5 expected goals falling to below 50 percent for the first time in a while. The good news is that their shooting percentage has regressed upwards to compensate – they’re no longer cursed, thank goodness.
• Today’s a big day for the out-of-town scoreboard, with Pittsburgh, Florida, and Washington all in action as well. A best-case scenario would see Ottawa just three points back of the playoffs.
• It’s a 7:00 PM EST start tonight, and the game is available on RDS2, TSN5, and TSN1200.

Stats:

• Taken from NHL.com and NaturalStatTrick.com