Game 82 Hub: Ottawa Senators vs Carolina Hurricanes

Ah, I guess we have one more game to play before Battle of Ontario V — fine.

The Ottawa Senators close out the regular season at home tonight against the Carolina Hurricanes, who lost to the Montreal Canadiens yesterday, allowing the latter to clinch a playoff spot. I honestly couldn't care less. My favourite team will be there as well, after all.

There isn't much to play for tonight, but so long as the team plays hard and honest, they should get through this one unscathed.

According to Sportsnet's Alex Adams, Brady Tkachuk will play tonight, ensuring the captain won't be going into the playoffs cold. He'll have a chance to put together his 4th consecutive 30-goal season. Here are the projected lines, with Thomas Chabot and Artem Zub getting the night off:

Game Notes:

• *I* probably wouldn't have let Travis Hamonic get too far past the 800 mark, but now that we're here, he deserves props for playing in his 900th career NHL game tonight. In 899 games with the Sens, Islanders, Flames and Canucks, he has 53 goals and 189 assists. It's a shame he was always asked to bite off more than he could chew in Ottawa – he'd be a lot more appreciated if that weren't the case.
• Fabian Zetterlund is starting to produce at the right time – in his last 5 games, he has 2 goals and 1 assist, which for a non-core player is pretty good! Maybe just enough to make a difference in a close game? In the playoffs, maybe?
• Wouldn't it be funny if Jake Sanderson and Nick Jensen end up playing so well together it causes Travis Green to question his life choices and alter the season-long Top-4 pairings?
• It's a 7:00 pm EST start tonight, and the game is available on TSN5, RDS, and TSN 1200.

Stats:

• From NHL.com and NaturalStatTrick.com