With a win tonight, the Ottawa Senators have the chance to put themselves within two points of the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.
The Sens are locked in a tight playoff race. They are currently four points back of the New York Islanders for the last playoff spot while having two games in hand, and are five points behind the Montreal Canadiens, who occupy the third spot in the Atlantic Division.
Ottawa’s contest against the New York Rangers, who sit last in the Eastern Conference with 65 points, is the only game on the NHL’s schedule Monday night, giving them the rare opportunity to gain some ground.
Senators forward Tim Stutzle admitted on Saturday afternoon that he can’t watch Atlantic Division games with how close the standings are.
“I love watching hockey, it’s probably all I do,” said Stutzle. “But I’ve been trying to tune out there. I don’t like watching…I just try to focus on what we can control.”
In 10 games through the month of March, the Senators are 7-2-1. In their past five games, they are 4-1, their only loss during that stretch a 4-1 loss to the Washington Capitals on Mar. 18.
Ottawa has managed to keep things on track even without top defenceman Jake Sanderson in the lineup, who suffered an upper-body injury Mar. 7 against the Seattle Kraken.
The 23-year-old has 11 goals and 48 points in 62 games this season while averaging 24:49 of ice time.
Head coach Travis Green said on Saturday that Sanderson could be back in the next seven to 10 days.
Ottawa’s defensive depth took a bit of a hit recently with Nick Jensen announced out for the rest of the season with a torn meniscus while Dennis Gilbert was injured in Saturday’s 5-2 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Offensively, forward Drake Batherson has been one of the Sens’ top performers in March. The 27-year-old winger has six goals and four assists in his last 10 games.
Stutzle is not far behind with four goals and five assists in March and leads the Senators in goals (32), assists (40) and points (72) in 69 games this season.
One player who admitted they needed to be better was captain Brady Tkachuk.
Tkachuk struggled in the loss to the Capitals, failing to record a point or a hit and was a minus-one.
Both Green and Tkachuk hinted that they had a one-on-one conversation before Thursday’s game against the Islanders.
“I like to keep that stuff private and personal and let those conversations happen between the two of us, just leave it at that,” Tkachuk said.
The captain would respond immediately against New York, dropping the gloves with Islanders captain Anders Lee off the opening face-off and then scored the game-winning goal with 11.1 remaining in the third period to deliver the 3-2 victory.
“I needed to be a lot better today to help this team,” said Tkachuk after Thursday’s win. “I think you can look at everybody on this team. Everybody had a statement game.”
Ottawa has 13 games remaining on the schedule with all but one against Eastern Conference opponents.