In case you missed it, the Ottawa Charge have an opportunity to punch their postseason ticket tonight and eliminate Toronto in the process. After such a rough off-season, the Charge deserve a tonne of credit for earning themselves the opportunity to avenge last season’s nail-biting conclusion against Minnesota. They haven’t always played the most textbook style, but the Charge have come through in the clutch winning seven games in overtime and running some reliable special teams. Gwyneth Philips also deserves a lot of credit as the league’s busiest netminder again put up some sterling numbers.
Tonight’s game against the Fleet starts at 7PM (you can catch the game on TSN) in Massachusetts with Ottawa currently leading the season series and riding a two-game winning streak. Boston meanwhile has already secured their playoff berth and could face Ottawa in round-one depending how things go this week. Ottawa will wrap up the season against Toronto with a Saturday matinee and we can all hope that just turns out to be a formality for the Charge as they prepare for round-one of the playoffs. In terms of personal motivation, Brianne Jenner and Rebecca Leslie also still have time to close out the regular season leading the league in points and goals respectively. Hell yeah.
The Ottawa Senators meanwhile have another day to rest Artem Zub and Tyler Kleven before game three in Ottawa. I don’t want to lean on injured defenders as an excuse because we made such a big deal about Ottawa’s ability to overcome adversity down the stretch. I’ll put it this way, the Senators seem to play well when backed in to a corner. Also every NHL player probably has some nagging injuries by now so again I won’t make excuses. Linus Ullmark has played well for two games, the defence has faced a steep learning curve against the Hurricanes’ depth, and Ottawa’s primary goal-scorers looked snakebit in games one and two. It happens in a short series, folks. This team needed almost all 82 games to find their groove in the regular season. They’ll need to find it by tomorrow to keep the dream alive. GO SENS GO.
Elsewhere in the NHL, Philadelphia has a chance to go up 3-0 against Pittsburgh after stealing two games on the road. I don’t particularly care for the Flyers but watching the Penguins lose is never not funny. In the clash of the titans, I have no idea what to expect between Dallas and Minnesota in game three. That probably shouldn’t be a first-round matchup Gary. Anaheim also plays Edmonton tonight but literally nobody cares.
The Lightning mercifully beat Montreal in game two but once again let the game get to overtime. I don’t like it at all. The Boston and Buffalo series now sits at one game apiece and I don’t know how I feel about it either way. The Not Coyotes also stole a game in Vegas and you absolutely love to see it because as much as I can’t take Utah seriously, I loathe Vegas as much as everyone else on this site. Poor Cody Ceci and Anton Forsberg will just try to stay off the wrong end of the highlight reel against Colorado. Parker Kelly has a legitimate chance at winning a Stanley Cup and it probably couldn’t happen to a nicer guy. Too bad Ottawa is gonna beat Colorado in the finals! Peace.