It’s too bad that The Hamburglar stole the show on Saturday night against the Ottawa Senators. Andrew Hammond made his first return to Ottawa since leaving in 2017, and he stopped 26 of 27 shots. It was touching to see him back in the city, although it would’ve been nice for the Senators to get that win against the lowly Montreal Canadiens in order to get some momentum because their next five games will be quite a challenging road trip.

They play Tampa Bay, Florida, Arizona, Vegas, and St. Louis, with the Lightning coming up first tonight. The Coyotes are obviously the outlier there, but four of those five teams will be a challenge for Ottawa. This is the Senators fourth and final matchup against the Lightning, with their record being 1-2-0 so far. Both of their losses were on the road, 5-3 and 2-1, so it’s not as if the back-to-back Cup champs have had Ottawa’s number.

Here are the projected lines for tonight:

Tuesday morning skate lines from Tampa.

Tkachuk White Sanford
Formenton Stützle Gaudette
Ennis Paul CBrown
Kelly Gambrell Watson

Chabot Zaitsev
Holden Zub
Brannstrom JBrown
Heatherington Mete

Murray-starters end.
Forsberg

— TSN 1200 (@TSN1200) March 1, 2022

Tampa Bay’s lines aren’t confirmed yet and their defense pairings keep changing, but these are the forward lines they had yesterday:

a look at the lines today …

Palat - Point - Kucherov
Killorn - Stamkos - Joseph
Maroon - Bellemare - Perry
Colton - Cirelli - Raddysh #GoBolts

— Gabby Shirley (@Gabby_Shirley_) February 28, 2022

Game Notes:

• As if the Senators weren’t injured enough already, the flu has been ravaging the team over the last few days. Chris Tierney won’t be playing, and it appears that even if someone is in the lineup, they may not be 100%:/

DJ Smith - Chris Tierney won't play tonight. We won't know until tonight about or roster. Get some food into some guys this afternoon. There will be guys playing who aren't 100% but that's life.

— TSN 1200 (@TSN1200) March 1, 2022

• That first line featuring Colin White and Zach Sanford is uh...interesting to say the least. I can’t imagine the lines stay the same the whole night.
• Dillon Heatherington was recalled from Belleville just in case.
• Matt Muray played well again last game and will start tonight while holding a .920 SV% on the season. Tonight is a big test for him with a depleted lineup and a fierce opponent.
• The Lightning are riding a 4-game win streak coming into tonight, beating Arizona, New Jersey, Edmonton, and Nashville.
• Tampa is 17-4-4 at home, which makes a win seem quite daunting.
• Although the Lightning are still incredibly good at the top of their roster, it’s clear that their depth isn’t quite as good as it was the last two seasons after losing Yanni Gourde, Barclay Goodrow, Blake Coleman, and Tyler Johnson./

Player Stats

Team Stats