Game 75 Preview and Open Thread: Ottawa Senators vs Philadelphia Flyers

Amazingly, the Senators are still in the race for that second wildcard spot in the Eastern conference.

Though I'm not sure you can call it much of a race at this point. Rather than a finish line, that wildcard berth is more like a black hole, slowly pulling teams toward it, in spite of their efforts to resist it at all costs. How else do you explain the Ottawa Senators going 3-6-1 in their last 10 games and still having a chance to qualify? Are teams that afraid of Boston?

Despite being a bad team overall, the Philadelphia Flyers, tonight's opponents, are on a four-game winning streak, including victories over the Panthers and Wild. After a 3-2-1 stretch against playoff and Cup contenders, the Sens can't afford to play down to their competition for a third time this month.

Below are the lines from the morning skate. Head coach D.J. Smith hasn't confirmed a starter but signs point to Cam Talbot, who hasn't played since early March.

Game Notes:

• Thomas Chabot will miss the next few weeks with an upper-body injury suffered against the Panthers on Monday. With only eight games left, it's likely he'll be done for the regular season – if so, he'll miraculously have played under 25 minutes a night for 2022-23.
• With an open spot on the blueline, Tyler Kleven will make his NHL debut tonight. A second-round selection from 2020 and one of three University of North Dakota alumni currently on the roster, the 6'4 left shot had a relatively productive junior year of college with 18 points in 35 games. Look for him to make an impact in a more literal sense tonight, on a pair with Nick Holden.
• Much like the Senators, the Flyers have dealt with injury woes all year long. In particular, Travis Konecny, with 54 points in 52 games, has been out with an upper-body injury since February 11th.
• Amidst the tough stretch of games featuring Toronto, Boston, New Jersey, Tampa Bay, Florida, and Pittsburgh, Ottawa's shot metrics have been trending downwards, with their 5-on-5 expected goals falling to below 50 percent for the first time in a while. The good news is that their shooting percentage has regressed upwards to compensate – they're no longer cursed, thank goodness.
• Today's a big day for the out-of-town scoreboard, with Pittsburgh, Florida, and Washington all in action as well. A best-case scenario would see Ottawa just three points back of the playoffs.
• It's a 7:00 PM EST start tonight, and the game is available on RDS2, TSN5, and TSN1200.

Stats:

• Taken from NHL.com and NaturalStatTrick.com