With three games left in the regular season, the Ottawa Senators may need just two points to wrap it up. And we may have some answers before the Central and Pacific games even get under way tonight. Detroit, Columbus, and Washington need miracles to stay alive. Ottawa’s opponent today still has a fighting chance against Philadelphia for the last berth in their division. The Sens meanwhile, in case you haven’t heard, could end the night in the first wild card spot in the east. Crazy times, I know.
So far the season series between the Senators and Islanders remains tied 1-1 with two one-goal games as one may expect from a quick glance at the standings. The Isles have tried to turn it around late in the season under Pete DeBoer with a 4-6 record in their last ten games (all in regulation). The cromulence of the mid-Atlantic has kept several average teams alive longer than I would have expected but nothing like the Pacific, yeesh.
Lineups
Travis Green confirmed this morning that there would be no lineup changes from Thursday’s victory over the Panthers, meaning Linus Ullmark starts and Thomas Chabot stays in the lineup:
Batherson-Stützle-Giroux
Tkachuk-Cozens-Greig
Cousins-Pinto-Amadio
Foegele-Eller-Zetterlund
Sanderson-Zub
Chabot-Spence
Thomson-Matinpalo
Gilbert-Crotty
Reimer
*no Ullmark
— Graeme Nichols (@GraemeNichols) April 9, 2026
Senators Injuries: Dennis Gilbert, Nick Jensen, Tyler Kleven
Meanwhile, here’s how Pete DeBoer’s Islanders lined up on Thursday against the Maple Leafs:
#Isles in warmups (Game No. 79 vs. Maple Leafs)
Lee-Horvat-Holmstrom
Schenn-Barzal-Ritchie
Shabanov-Pageau-Heineman
Palat-Cizikas-Gatcomb
Schaefer-Pulock
Pelech-DeAngelo
Soucy-Mayfield
Sorokin
Rittich
— Andrew Gross (@AGrossNewsday) April 9, 2026
Islanders Injuries: Pierre Engvall, Kyle Palmieri, Alexander Romanov, Semyon Varlamov
Game Notes:We can only assume that the Islanders will start Ilya Sorokin for one of the biggest games of their season. I won’t downplay how well Sorokin has played this season but I will note that GO SENS GO.Among the stats in Ottawa’s favour (to balance out the big picture goaltending), Ottawa generates more at five-on-five (2.79 xGF/60) than the Islanders (2.65) and Ottawa also allows less (2.31 xGA/60) at five-on-five than New York (2.95) and also Linus Ullmark has been kind of nice with it lately in case you haven’t noticed.On the powerplay Ottawa also has the advantage (8.62 xGF/60) over New York (8.21) who really don’t play a very scrappy game as you might have guessed.With Sorokin as their most important penalty killer, the Islanders take full advantage as their penalty kill ranks dead last in the league (10.43 xGA/60) in terms of suppression while Ottawa (7.38) ranks third.Stats as always courtesy of naturalstattrickAs much as I enjoy seeing Anthony Duclair and Jean-Gabriel Pageau still doing their thing, I would appreciate if both could respectfully stay off the score sheet this afternoon.
Where to watch/listen: TVAS, TSN5, TSN1200 @ 1PM EDT