In their second last game of the season, the Senators are in New York to face the Rangers – the number one team in the NHL.
The Matchup: Ottawa Senators (36-40-4) at New York Rangers (54-23-4)
Face off: 7:30 p.m. ET; (TV: TSN5, RDS2)
In their final game of the regular season tonight, the New York Rangers can clinch the NHL President's Trophy with a victory over the visiting Ottawa Senators.
While no one would publicly admit it, the Rangers would also prefer to avoid any playoff scenario that opens even a slight possibility of drawing the Tampa Bay Lightning, this year's most dangerous wild card entry.
So the Senators will be getting the best version of the Rangers, who won't be resting their key guys. The Blueshirts want that top seed and since the playoffs don't start until the weekend, they have the next five or six days off anyway.
Rangers head coach Peter Laviolette was careful to keep the respect level high for the Senators.
"I think everybody in New York knows exactly what's on the line tonight, certainly the players in the room do," Laviolette told NHL.com. "My point is we'll try to focus to make sure we play the game the right way. (The Senators) are fast, they're physical, they have talent and they're dangerous offensively. It won't be an easy game."
The two clubs have both had a chance to trample each other this season. Ottawa won 6-2 in December and the Rangers punched back with a 7-2 win in January.
The Senators' centre ice depth took another blow in their game against Montreal on Saturday. Mark Kastelic took a puck off the side of the head in the game. He told The Hockey News he's 'feeling alright' and just taking it easy for a few days. So Kastelic joins fellow centres Tim Stutzle and Josh Norris as centres we probably won't see again until the fall.
To compound things, another centre, Ridly Greig, isn't feeling well and will be a game time decision. Presumably, the Sens would activate Zack MacEwen if Greig cannot go and then shuffle the deck after that.
Belleville centre Zack Ostapchuk was called up from the minors to replace Kastelic and currently slated to centre the third line.
Senators projected lineup
Brady Tkachuk -- Shane Pinto -- Drake Batherson
Mathieu Joseph -- Ridly Greig -- Claude Giroux
Boris Katchouk -- Zack Ostapchuk -- Parker Kelly
Bokondji Imama -- Jiri Smejkal -- Dominik Kubalik
Jake Sanderson -- Artem Zub
Thomas Chabot -- Erik Brannstrom
Jakob Chychrun -- Jacob Bernard-Docker
Joonas Korpisalo
Anton Forsberg
Scratched: Zack MacEwen
Injured: Mark Kastelic (upper body), Matthew Highmore (upper body), Angus Crookshank (lower body), Travis Hamonic (undisclosed), Tim Stutzle (upper body)
Rangers projected lineup
Chris Kreider -- Mika Zibanejad -- Jack Roslovic
Artemi Panarin -- Vincent Trocheck -- Alexis Lafreniere
Will Cuylle -- Alex Wennberg -- Kaapo Kakko
Jimmy Vesey -- Barclay Goodrow -- Matt Rempe
Ryan Lindgren -- Adam Fox
K'Andre Miller -- Braden Schneider
Erik Gustafsson -- Jacob Trouba
Igor Shesterkin
Jonathan Quick