Columbus at Ottawa: Senators' Schedule About To Get a Steady Stream Of Blue Jackets Games
The Ottawa Senators are about to get extremely well acquainted with the 2024-25 Columbus Blue Jackets. The Senators have just 11 games left in their regular season, and three of them – more than a quarter – will be against the Blue Jackets, starting Saturday night at Canadian Tire Centre (7 pm).
Mar 14, 2024: Columbus Blue Jackets goalie Elvis Merzlikins (90) makes an overtime stick save against the Ottawa Senators (Russell LaBounty-Imagn Images).That means six points are up for grabs and that's exactly Ottawa's lead on Columbus right now. A Sens win on Saturday would make it eight and almost impossible for the Jackets to catch them. A loss would drop the lead to four, which suddenly isn't all that imposing. So, that's the last thing the Sens want to see.
That, and donkey hats.
After each victory, the Blue Jackets decided this season to honour their player of the game with a donkey hat in honour of the late Johnny Gaudreau, who would jokingly call his teammates "donkeys' when the friendly chirps broke out.
Columbus enters play on Saturday as the WC2 holder, tied with the Montreal Canadiens and the New York Rangers, but they've played two fewer games than the Rangers and one less than the Habs. The New York Islanders lost 5-3 to Tampa Bay on Saturday to stay a point back.
The Senators will have the advantage of rest for this one. While they beat the Detroit Red Wings 4-3 two nights ago, the Blue Jackets scored a wild, emotional 7-6 shootout victory over the Vancouver Canucks at home on Friday. Columbus had trailed in the game, 3-0, so it's hard to predict if they'll be gassed on Saturday or on top of the world.
Jackets head coach Dean Evason isn't buying into the fatigue factor.
“It’s just hockey,” Evason told the Columbus media after Friday's game. “That’s all it is. We’re not skating (Saturday), so you can sleep in and get a nice meal in a wonderful hotel. You fly a charter and have a nap, you wake up, puck drops, and you play hockey. It’s not that hard.”
Ottawa Senators winger Drake Batherson, who has nine points in his past eight games, says the Sens' locker room is buzzing about the opportunity that lies before them.
"Yeah, it's such a tight race and for those teams, it feels like they're almost losing every night we lose. So it's been kind of good for us," Batherson said. "It's going to be an interesting finish, I think, and we're excited for it. Obviously, we've got three games left against Columbus alone, so a lot of big points at stake here coming up."
At the brief game-day skate on Saturday morning, banged-up Senator defenceman Nick Jensen didn't participate. But this has been the norm for many weeks and probably won't change until next season. He is expected to play on Saturday as the Senators roll out the same line combinations they did in Motown.
Linus Ullmark will start in goal for the Sens against Daniil Tarasov for Columbus.
The first 7000 fans to Canadian Tire Centre will receive a pair of Go Sens Go sunglasses. Apparently, the Sens' future is so bright they gotta wear shades.
Senators Projected Lineup
Defensemen
Jake Sanderson – Artem Zub
Thomas Chabot – Nick Jensen
Tyler Kleven – Nikolas Matinpalo
Goalies
Scratched
Dennis Gilbert, Travis Hamonic
Injured
Nick Cousins (knee)
Blue Jackets Projected Lineup
Defensemen
Zach Werenski – Dante Fabbro
Ivan Provorov – Damon Severson
Denton Mateychuk – Erik Gudbranson
Goalies
Daniil Tarasov
Elvis Merzlikins