Monday LNN: Green for the Adams, the Play-off Picture Comes into Focus, and More!

With just nine games remaining in the regular season, the Ottawa Senators are seven points clear of the New York Rangers, the last team outside of the play-offs. Add in that the Sens have a game in hand on the Rags, and you get a 99% chance of post-season hockey in the Nation's capital – per friend of the blog Micah McCurdy.

Indeed, these are heady days for Sens fans. Let's dig into some good stuff from around the hockey world:

• When a team makes as dramatic an improvement in the standings as the Sens, the coach will naturally come in for some acclaim. Alex Adams makes the case for Travis Green to win the Jack Adams over at Sportsnet. The key point:

Years of a losing culture is hard to break. Just gaze over to Buffalo and Detroit that still have no clear pathway to return to the playoffs anytime soon, while Ottawa almost certainly will be in the playoffs by season's end. Green has moulded Ottawa into a winning culture through that defensive emphasis.

Look no further than the focal points of the team, including Tim Stutzle, Brady Tkachuk, Thomas Chabot and Batherson, all of whom were mediocre to porous defensive players who didn't “play the right way” before this season.

However, all of those players have improved defensive metrics this season, with each of them rising into the top half of the league in expected goals allowed per game at five-on-five. It has resulted in wins.

I'm not sure about the "playing the right way" bit, a cliche if there ever was one, but no one's gonna argue that the Sens' top players are more defensively engaged than ever before. I would also venture that it helps when your goalie stops the shots from time to time. Nevertheless, if Ottawa really does hold on for a play-off spot, then Green deserves some real consideration for the award.

• Murray Pam makes the astute point that a major factor driving Ottawa's recent winning ways is 5-on-5 goal-scoring. With power play opportunities at a premium in the post-season, the Sens will need to continue to find the back of the net at even strength.
• Friend of the blog Travis Yost breaks down each of the Western Conference's play-off contenders for TSN.
• Justin Bourne has a good reminder that for all the talk of persevering through adversity, injury luck plays a huge role in play-off success. I will also give Bourne bonus points for including the Sens as fringe Stanley Cup contenders.
• Over at ESPN, Greg Wyshynski had an interesting piece on Friday about the decline in total penalties being called this year. While I don't believe there's one single clean answer, the combination of a generation of players who have played all of their hockey since the league made a concerted effort to curtail hooking/holding after the 04-05 lockout, and less lead-footed defensemen strike me as having strong explanatory powers.
• Lastly, TSN has the Sens ranked 14th in their latest edition of their Power Rankings. I might have them a bit higher, let's say 12th, but mostly I'm just linking to this piece because it's been eight years since it was worth even thinking about Power Rankings as a Sens fan.