Game 53 preview: New York Islanders @ Ottawa Senators

The Sens look to continue their momentum into the weekend after previously defeating the Dallas Stars 3-2 on Thursday. Ottawa’s gone 5-3-2 in their last 10 games, although are still second in the Atlantic division. The lead isn’t comfortable though, as the right combination of wins and losses could bump the Senators down to as low as the second wild card spot by the end of the evening.

The New York Islanders were at one point considered out of the playoff race, although their recent stretch of good play has them sitting only two point back of Boston in the second wild card spot with four games in hand. They’ve earned points in each of their last three games, and haven’t lost a game by more than two goals in almost a month.

With both Ottawa and New York having played 52 games each, the only team who’s played less so far is Colorado at 51.

Craig Anderson will be making his return tonight after taking time off , and should hopefully help the Sens heading into the playoffs. Here are tonights’s projected lines from DailyFaceoff:

Smith-Brassard-Stone
Dzingel-Turris-Ryan
Hoffman-Pageau-Pyatt
Wingels-Kelly

Methot-Karlsson
Phaneuf-Ceci
Borowiecki-Wideman
Claesson

Anderson (starter)
Condon

Some notes for tonight:

• Andy’s is back! He’ll be making his first start since December 5th, when he allowed seven goals versus the Pittsburgh Penguins.
• Anderson is the Sens’ leader this season in 5v5 SV% (.924), as well as low danger SV% (99.25) and medium danger SV% (91.54). His low danger SV% is third highest in the league, compared to Andrew Hammond who’s second lowest.
• After scoring in his first game as a Senators, Tommy Wingels hasn’t registered a point in his last five.
• Watch out for the 1:00 PM start time, as this is the Sens’ first of two afternoon games this season.
• On the Islanders’ side, Thomas Greiss will be appearing in his third consecutive start. He’s taken the Islanders’ starter job by the collar and claimed it, with a 17-8-3 record and 0.923 SV%.
• Shane Prince returns to his former town today, where he played both junior and pro hockey. With 16 total points on the season, he has two points in his last three games all while playing on the 4th line.
• John Tavares is on quite the tear right now, with 17 points in his last 14 games. Anders Lee also has 14 in his last 12, and Josh Bailey has 14 in his last 13. All three together will create an ultra-dangerous first line tonight.
• The last time these two teams met was December 18th, with Ottawa coming out on top with a 6-2 win. Zack Smith and Mark Stone each had three points, and the Islanders followed it up with three consecutive wins./