Game 73 Preview and Open Thread: Ottawa Senators at New Jersey Devils

The Senators are coming off maybe their most convincing win of the season, a 7-2 shellacking of the Lightning on Thursday. Meanwhile, this Devils team lost a 5-4 decision to the Sabres last night. A rested Sens team brimming with confidence should win this one, so who knows what will actually happen?

No morning skate but DJ Smith did mention in his availability that Jakob Chychrun will miss a couple of weeks with a lower body injury, and Ridly Greig is done for the year with a sternum injury. Nick Holden will draw in for Chychrun. The starting goalie has not yet been announced.

Some thoughts going into tonight:

• The Sens are five points out of the playoffs with 10 games to go, with zero games in hand. Can they do it? It seems unlikely, but it’s still going to be close, which is a nice change from recent seasons.
• Meanwhile, the Devils are looking to secure second in the division. They still could possibly catch the Hurricanes, but likely they’re looking to maintain home-ice advantage against the Rangers in the first round. The loss to the Sabres last night means they still haven’t mathematically clinched their playoff spot.
• The Sens have three players with 70 points (Giroux, Tkachuk, Stützle) for the first time since 2008-09 (Alfie, Spezza, Heatley). They haven’t even had three 60-point scorers since 2014-15 (Karlsson, Turris, Stone).
• DeBrincat is at 59 points, and Batherson is at 56. The last time the Sens had four players hit 60 points was 2000-01 (Yashin, Hossa, McEachern, Alfie). They’ve never had five players do it in a single season. This could be a historic season.
• Rest does wonders for a young player, After looking nearly cooked on the road, Mads Søgaard has settled in with a .943 and a .931 against the Bruins and Lightning, respectively
• Last game, the lowest Sens time on ice was Travis Hamonic at 14:33, and the highest was Thomas Chabot at 24:25. That’s the kind of parity I like to see in this lineup. With Chabot, Sanderson, and Chychrun, there’s no reason to play a leftie 30 minutes per game — and Brännström made a case for his regular play with his gorgeous goal last game.
• The Devils have won both meetings this season, so Ottawa will attempt to stave off getting swept in the season series.
• The game is scheduled for 7 pm, with coverage on Sportsnet1, MSG-SN, and ESPN+, with the radio call, as always, on TSN 1200./

Team Stats:

Team Stats

Player Stats:

Player Stats

Stats via NHL.com and NaturalStatTrick.com