Time: 7:30pm ET
Place: Little Caesars Arena – Detroit, MI
TV: BSDETX
Radio: 97.1 FM The Ticket
Senators Blog: Silver Sevens
Another game, another disappointing finish as Detroit was unable to hold a lead (a few times) and ended up losing to the New York Rangers in overtime 5-4 on Wednesday. Tonight, the Red Wings start the final month of the season with an important two game set (for those who care about draft positioning) against the Ottawa Senators. The Sens come in still looking to recover from the loss of their owner Eugene Melnyk and a struggling March that saw them win 4 out of 15 games.
As rough as the Red Wings have looked at times this season offensively, Ottawa has been worse. They come in last in the NHL in goals for with 171 in 66 games (for reference the Red Wings have 193 in 67). Individually, Josh Norris (26) and Brady Tkachuk (23) lead the team in goals with Tkachuk (47) and Tim Stutzle (40) leading them in points. It has not all be awful for Ottawa so far though. They sit middle of the pack in goals against with 217 (the Wings are the worst in the league with 258). A lot of this can be attributed to the play of goalie Anton Forsberg who has posted a .919 save percentage over 35 games (33 starts).
This will be an interesting two games for Detroit. On paper they are a more talented team overall and they have had more success this season so far. That said, Detroit has struggled with consistency across just about every aspect of the game over the last two months and it is starting to show in their effort/energy at times. A loss tonight at home to a team nine points behind them in the standings could sap a lot more of that energy and really make for a less than ideal final month.