Game 55 Hub: Ottawa Senators @ Tampa Bay Lightning

For the second time in three nights, the Ottawa Senators will face off against the Tampa Bay Lightning on the road. The Senators were unable to make a late comeback on Tuesday and ultimately fell 4-3 in Linus Ullmark's first game back. It wasn't the best effort from the Senators, but it was on the second half of a tough back-to-back on the road.

While there was a bit of a built-in excuse on Tuesday, most people would classify tonight as a must-win for Ottawa if they want to keep pace with the Lightning and show they can beat them. Tampa is two points back with two games in hand, so a loss tonight would mean a tie with two games in hand—they can't let that happen. Here were the lines this morning, with things looking quite different:

Game Notes:

• Ottawa will be without Josh Norris again but also Shane Pinto, which is quite a blow to their centre depth. Pinto was on a heater with 12 points in 13 games before getting injured on Tuesday, so his absence will be noticed.
• Ridly Greig will be heavily relied upon on the first line, and he's done well of late with three goals and two assists in five games.
• Anton Forsberg will get the start, which some may see as a concern for Linus Ullmark's previous injury, but I see it more as them easing him in. Forsberg has been great in four of his last six games (with one being a relief appearance), allowing just one goal in three of them.
• The 11 forwards and 7 defensemen combination is mostly because of cap reasons, which is never great. It could be hard to contribute offense tonight, and who knows how much ice time Nikolas Matinpalo will get as the seventh defenseman.
• Drake Batherson being on the third line is probably more due to their thin lineup and needing to spread out some offense. I can't see that lasting too long.
• Nick Paul left the game on Tuesday, but he was skating yesterday and is back in the lineup for Tampa.
• Anthony Cirelli won't be playing tonight, which at least makes things a bit easier with Pinto out as well.
• This is the first and only time the Senators will be travelling to Florida this season, which is quite nice that they can get these three games out of the way.
• Andrei Vasilevskiy will get the start again for Tampa, which will be a challenge again for the Senators. However, he has just an .891 SV% in 18 games versus Ottawa, so who knows?

Team Stats:

Player Stats: