Hands up, who thought the Ottawa Senators were going to come back when it was 3-1 for the Calgary Flames with 2:15 left to play?

Oh, nobody? Yeah...I’m shocked they were able to do that, but Drake Batherson, Alex DeBrincat, and Tim Stützle saved the day with a 4-3 overtime win last night despite an overall lackluster night. It was a great reminder that the Senators are quite flawed but still have the potential to be extremely exciting. They’re 5-1-0 over their past six games, and today they headed to Long Island to face off against the New York Islanders.

As of now, the Senators are expected to run a similar lineup to last night, although Jacob Larsson will draw in for Nick Holden, and it’s unclear if Kevin Mandolese will make his first career start after Mads Søgaard’s win:

Sens lines from the warmup.

Tkachuk Stützle Joseph
DeBrincat Greig Giroux
Motte Pinto Batherson
Kelly Brassard Watson

Chabot Zaitsev
Brannstrom Zub
Holden Hamonic

Sogaard [starts]
Mandolese

— TSN 1200 (@TSN1200) February 14, 2023

Similarly, the Islanders haven’t said anything different than the lines from yesterday:

#Isles forward lines at practice:

Bailey-Horvat-Barzal
Lee-Nelson-Palmieri
Parise-Pageau-Holmstrom
Martin-Koivula-Fasching

*Cizikas out sick (non COVID)

— Stefen Rosner (@stefen_rosner) February 13, 2023

Sorokin is first goalie off the ice at #Isles morning skate. He starts vs. #Sens.

— Stefen Rosner (@stefen_rosner) February 14, 2023

Game Notes:

• The Senators beat the Islanders just recently on January 25th, a 2-1 win at home. The game itself was uneventful except for it being Ridly Greig’s first career NHL game where he got an assist as well. New York won the only other contest this season by a score of 4-2 back in November.
• The Islanders have a record of 27-23-6 and sit just one point behind the Pittsburgh Penguins for the final playoff spot. However, they have played four more games, making the gap bigger than it would appear. They recently acquired Bo Horvat, which could be the push they need to make the playoffs, but I don’t know if they’re good enough even with him.
• No matter who’s starting for Ottawa, it’ll be a very young goalie. Søgaard looked as sharp as one can in their fourth career appearance, and Mandolese hasn’t gotten any minutes in the NHL yet. It’s not exactly the best situation for both of them to be in without a veteran ahead of them.
• Shane Pinto grew up in Franklin Square, New York, which is only 10 minutes down the road from the UBS Arena. He’ll have dozens of friends and family in attendance tonight, which is always so sweet to see.
• New York’s goaltending is easily their biggest strength, as their team SV% sits 5th overall at .914% between Ilya Sorokin and Semyon Varlamov. Sorokin has been Vezina-worthy as he’s up to a .923 SV% in 40 games.
• Jacob Larsson draws in for Nick Holden tonight. Larsson’s played just three games with Ottawa this season, although he hasn’t stood out in a bad way in those games.
• A few players are dinged up according to DJ Smith, including Brady Tkachuk, but he’ll play tonight. Others may have to get fewer shifts, although it’s unclear who that is./

Player Stats

Team Stats

Puck drop is at 7:30 EST and the game can be seen on TSN5 and RDS2.