Game 77 Hub: Ottawa Senators @ Washington Capitals

The Senators were officially eliminated from playoff contention with their loss last night, with the game against New Jersey encompassing many of the pertinent storylines from this season: porous goaltending, defensive lapses, and moments of brilliance that brought fans to their feet in the third period, only to fall just short.

Washington has also had an inconsistent year, but remain in the playoff hunt as one of seven teams competing for two spots – third place in their Metropolitan Division, as well as the second wild-card seed. They've been let down over their last five, with only one point (0-4-1) to show for it, but all seven of those teams have struggled to seize the opportunity.

Let's see which of these two teams are able to rebound tonight.

As NKB noted in yesterday's preview, there's some uncertainty with Ottawa's lines given the bumps and bruises the team is navigating. Here's how they lined up last night, with Tim Stützle missing out with an upper-body injury:

Meanwhile, here's how the Caps lined up in their last game against Carolina. Expect T.J. Oshie to remain out and Charlie Lindgren to get the start in goal:

Game Notes:

• Joonas Korpisalo has been solid in most games he's come into in relief of Anton Forsberg, and that was true last night as well. We expect him to get the start tonight.
• In the aftermath of last night's contest against the Devils, every Sens player spoke about wanting to match Brady Tkachuk's physical play on a consistent basis. Brady set the NHL record for most hits in a game with 16.
• Speaking of records, Alexander Ovechkin scored his 850th career goal in Washington's last outing against Carolina. 45 away from Gretzky. If Ovechkin manages to score his 30th goal of the season tonight, he'll have his 18th 30-goal season – the most in NHL history. He's currently tied with Mike Gartner at 17.
• The Capitals have been faltering down the stretch, and some of that has to do with injuries. In addition to the aforementionend Oshie, big names like Nicklas Backstrom, Tom Wilson, and Ethan Bear are out injured.
• On the flipside, that's given the organization's rookies a big chance to play minutes down the stretch. Hendrix Lapierre, Beck Malenstyn, Ivan Miroshnichenko, and Alex Alexeyev will all be in the lineup tonight, and played well the last time these two teams faced each other.
• Note: it's a 6:00pm ET start tonight. You can catch the game on TSN5, TVA Sports, TSN1200, or Unique FM 94.5

Stats: