Game 36 Hub: Ottawa Senators @ Minnesota Wild

To quote the famous poet Chris Martin:

Nobody said it was easy
No one ever said it would be this hard
Oh, take me back to the start

Just when it looked like the Ottawa Senators had figured this whole thing out, Linus Ullmark went and got himself hurt. We're still a bit unsure about how much time, exactly, the #1 goalie will miss, but Ottawa's 0-2 since he went down and have received disappointing performances from both Leevi Meriläinen and Mads Søgaard. Add in the fact that the Sens are in the midst of a brutal road trip, and it's enough to wish we were back in the halcyon days of mid-December.

The thing about the NHL is that no one is ever going to feel sorry for you and the games just keep on coming. Ottawa will face a strong Minnesota Wild squad this evening and, more than anything else, they just need to figure out a way to get a result of some kind. Maybe it will require 100 blocked shots. Maybe it'll be a Nick Jensen hat-trick. Just win, baby.

Game Notes:

-Meriläinen will almost certainly get the start tonight after Søgaard's less-than-stellar outing yesterday against the Winnipeg Jets.

-With no gameday skate this morning, we won't know exactly how coach Travis Green plans to line 'em up until game time, but I would expect a similar lineup to last night.

-Meanwhile, the Minnesota Wild will be welcoming Joel Eriksson-Ek back to their line-up after an extended absence. This is bad news for the Sens tonight, but good for my fantasy team so I personally am mildly conflicted!

-Just kidding, Eriksson-Ek can go scoreless with a -5 and that would be fine by me as long as the Sens win.

-Filip Gustavsson, you may remember that guy, gets the start for the Wild.

-Puck drop is 8pm eastern, and you can watch TSN5, or listen live via radio on TSN1200 or Unique FM.