Well, the weekend was extremely disappointing for the Ottawa Senators and their fans. They lost back-to-back games against non-playoff teams in the Vancouver Canucks and Calgary Flames, and they looked completely lost in both matchups. Ottawa’s playoff hopes are hanging on by a thread for these final 16 games, and the schedule doesn’t get any easier. Tonight they’re facing the Edmonton Oilers to finish off their five-game road trip.

The Oilers aren’t a perfect team as they sit 13th in the NHL but they have so much elite talent that they can never be underestimated. Heck, that elite talent makes a guy like Zach Hyman look so good that he has 72 points in 66 games. Here are the projected lines for tonight:

With names:

Tkachuk-Stutzle-Batherson
DeBrincat-Pinto-Giroux
Brassard-Gambrell-Gauthier
Kastelic-Brown-Watson

Chychrun-Zub
Sanderson-Hamonic
Brannstrom-Holden

Søgaard https://t.co/1gS8dN18Gd

— /r/OttawaSenators (@SensOnReddit) March 14, 2023

Game Notes:

• The Senators will be without a few of their regulars, as Mathieu Joseph will be out for an unknown period, and Thomas Chabot and Parker Kelly are doubtful to play. I sure hope they call up some players from Belleville in order to fill some of the voids in the bottom six at some point.
• One silver lining about Chabot most likely being out is that we get to avoid the “Erik Brännström/Nick Holden” discourse for one day.
• The Oilers lines for tonight haven’t been announced just yet, although this is what they went with last game:/

Oilers lines and pairings in warmups vs. TOR:
Kane-McDavid-Hyman
RNH-Draisaitl-Yamamoto
Foegele-Bjugstad-Janmark
Shore-McLeod-Ryan

Nurse-Ceci
Ekholm-Bouchard
Kulak-Desharnais

Skinner
Campbell

— Daniel Nugent-Bowman (@DNBsports) March 11, 2023

• Ottawa will catch a break if the Oilers decide to play Jack Campbell instead of Stuart Skinner tonight, as Campbell has a paltry .882SV% this season. We’ll have to wait and see though. Either way, as you’ll see in the team stats below, Edmonton’s defensive play is not the best.
• Ottawa lost their only other matchup against Edmonton this season, which was last month at home. The Oilers won 6-3. It’s incredible to think about how the Senators went 0-9-0 against them in the 2020-21 season...wow.
• Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl absolutely own the Senators. Then again, I’m not sure who they don’t own.
• Puck drop is at 9:00 pm EST. /

Player Stats

Game 67	Ottawa	Senators	Edmonton	Oilers
Category	Player	#	Player	#
Goals	Tim Stützle	32	Connor McDavid	55
Assists	Brady Tkachuk	40	Connor McDavid	72
Points	Tim Stützle	71	Connor McDavid	127
Shots	Brady Tkachuk	268	Connor McDavid	292
Time on Ice/GP	Thomas Chabot	25:18	Darnell Nurse	23:44

Chychrun With Sens Defensemen

Defense Partner	TOI (5v5)	CF%	FF%	SF%	xGF%	SCF%
Holden	30:04:00	50.91	51.22	45.45	45.36	39.39
Sanderson	22:55	51.67	53.49	51.52	47.61	43.33
Brännström	15:50	66.67	72.73	66.67	69.14	61.11
Chabot	12:17	70.83	70.59	71.43	71.57	66.67