Well, the weekend was extremely disappointing for the Ottawa Senators and their fans. They lost back-to-back games against non-playoff teams in the Vancouver Canucks and Calgary Flames, and they looked completely lost in both matchups. Ottawa’s playoff hopes are hanging on by a thread for these final 16 games, and the schedule doesn’t get any easier. Tonight they’re facing the Edmonton Oilers to finish off their five-game road trip.

The Oilers aren’t a perfect team as they sit 13th in the NHL but they have so much elite talent that they can never be underestimated. Heck, that elite talent makes a guy like Zach Hyman look so good that he has 72 points in 66 games. Here are the projected lines for tonight:

With names:

Tkachuk-Stutzle-Batherson
DeBrincat-Pinto-Giroux
Brassard-Gambrell-Gauthier
Kastelic-Brown-Watson

Chychrun-Zub
Sanderson-Hamonic
Brannstrom-Holden

Søgaard https://t.co/1gS8dN18Gd

— /r/OttawaSenators (@SensOnReddit) March 14, 2023

Game Notes:

• The Senators will be without a few of their regulars, as Mathieu Joseph will be out for an unknown period, and Thomas Chabot and Parker Kelly are doubtful to play. I sure hope they call up some players from Belleville in order to fill some of the voids in the bottom six at some point.
• One silver lining about Chabot most likely being out is that we get to avoid the “Erik Brännström/Nick Holden” discourse for one day.
• The Oilers lines for tonight haven’t been announced just yet, although this is what they went with last game:/

Oilers lines and pairings in warmups vs. TOR:
Kane-McDavid-Hyman
RNH-Draisaitl-Yamamoto
Foegele-Bjugstad-Janmark
Shore-McLeod-Ryan

Nurse-Ceci
Ekholm-Bouchard
Kulak-Desharnais

Skinner
Campbell

— Daniel Nugent-Bowman (@DNBsports) March 11, 2023

• Ottawa will catch a break if the Oilers decide to play Jack Campbell instead of Stuart Skinner tonight, as Campbell has a paltry .882SV% this season. We’ll have to wait and see though. Either way, as you’ll see in the team stats below, Edmonton’s defensive play is not the best.
• Ottawa lost their only other matchup against Edmonton this season, which was last month at home. The Oilers won 6-3. It’s incredible to think about how the Senators went 0-9-0 against them in the 2020-21 season...wow.
• Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl absolutely own the Senators. Then again, I’m not sure who they don’t own.
• Puck drop is at 9:00 pm EST. /

Player Stats

Chychrun With Sens Defensemen