Zak MacMillan: OTT - Pesky Points Ottawa jump to first in Wild Card of the Eastern Conference with needed victories over Detroit and Philadelphia.

Ottawa Senators Lines (by ice time)

Brady Tkachuk - Tim Stutzle - Claude Giroux
Ridly Grieg - Shane Pinto - Drake Batherson
Angus Crookshank - Dylan Cozens - Michael Amadio
David Perron - Nick Cousins - Matthew Highmore
Fabian Zetterlund - Adam Gaudette - Zack Ostapchuk

Jake Sanderson - Nick Jensen
Thomas Chabot - Artem Zub
Tyler Kleven - Travis Hamonic

Tkachuk (18:38) Stutzle (20:04) Giroux (18:45)
Grieg (16:40) Pinto (17:37) Batherson (18:25)
Crookshank (14:04) Cozens (15:34) Amadio (14:12)
Perron (13:32) Cousins (11:54) Highmore (11:40)
Zetterlund (10:04) Gaudette (10:37) Ostapchuk (09:20)

Sanderson (24:28) Jensen (20:18)
Chabot (23:02) Zub (20:13)
Kleven (14:15) Hamonic (16:56)
Sebrango (10:19) Matinpalo (12:17)

**My takeaways, wow, I think Tkachuk could see another minute. I think Pinto playing that much says A LOT. He is a key piece of this team, not just point totals. Also extremely frustrating if Zetterlund isn't at least at 15:30 soon! He is way too go to play that little. He was seeing 17 mins a night in SJ!

Projected Standings

W1 - Ottawa Senators - 94 points (44-32-6)
W2 - Columbus Blue Jackets - 90 points (40-32-10)
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9th - Montreal Canadiens - 87 points (40-35-7)
10th - New York Rangers - 86 points (39-35-8)
11th - Detroit Red Wings - 86 points (39-35-8)

For Ottawa to make the playoffs (91 points should get them in) they need just 18 points in the remaining 18 games. That means even if they go 8-8-2 or 7-7-4, it should result in a playoff clinch for the first time in 8 years.

montipalo or was that highmore should have been benched for giving up the puck and ending a dominant sequence were 4 of 5 bruins were close to 2+ minutes on the ice, and Pinto should be benched for zero freaking effort on that second Bs goal..

montipalo or was that highmore should have been benched for giving up the puck and ending a dominant sequence were 4 of 5 bruins were close to 2+ minutes on the ice, and Pinto should be benched for zero freaking effort on that second Bs goal..
- Mithos

- david22

Team still really needs to find some consistency, but when they're on their game, they can be a real force.

A little too bad that Zetterland is on the 4th line but its hard to break up the other lines right now. Really liking that Greig Pinto Amadio third line.

Cozens was +3 against the Bruins. So far, he is far better than expected. Pinto was a beast. Stutzle skates like the wind and drives defences crazy. Visiting teams invest heavily in stopping Stutzle/Tkachuk. Finally the Sens are structured to make them pay.

montipalo or was that highmore should have been benched for giving up the puck and ending a dominant sequence were 4 of 5 bruins were close to 2+ minutes on the ice, and Pinto should be benched for zero freaking effort on that second Bs goal..
- Mithos