Coming off of a statement 5-3 victory against the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday, the Pittsburgh Penguins have another test ahead of them on Saturday afternoon.
The Penguins are set to face off against the Ottawa Senators on Jaromir Jagr bobblehead night in Pittsburgh, and two huge points are on the line. The Penguins are currently tied for the second wild card spot with the Columbus Blue Jackets – who have one game in hand – and sit just three points ahead of the Senators, who have three games in hand.
Two clean points would put them ahead of Ottawa by five points, making those games in hand less relevant. The players are aware of how close the standings are and the fact that no team is really pulling ahead to grab playoff spots, which makes playing in these kinds of games fun for them.
“I think it gives us some excitement, not just for the divisional games, but games in our conference are super important because those are the teams we’re going to be fighting with down the stretch,” forward Drew O’Connor said. “We’re excited for those kind of games. Down the stretch last year, when we were playing those meaningful games, and it was kind of the most fun time to play because everything matters so much, and we’re kind of in that position now already. So, it’s exciting.”
O’Connor emphasized the similarities of this stretch run to last season’s, where the East was in a similar position with teams failing to pull ahead. He expressed the team’s desire to get ahead of that a little bit more this season.
“We obviously put together a really good stretch last year and gave ourselves a chance to get in, but we don’t want to have to wait that long this year,” O’Connor said. “We want to be there a little bit sooner than later. We know how important the points are and how much they matter now.”
The issue with the Senators, in particular, is that the last three contests between the two teams have gone past regulation. The Penguins have lost each of those contests, and they have also six of their last seven against Ottawa – with all but two of those matchups being one-goal games.
“They’re a good team,” head coach Mike Sullivan said. “They’re young, they’re hungry, they’re fast, they defend hard, they’re a good team. I just think they’re one of the emerging teams in the league with some of the young talent that they have, and they play hard.”
Goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic will get his fifth start in Pittsburgh’s last eight games, and he has had a save percentage north of .930 in two of his four games since the holiday break. Tristan Jarry will figure to start the second half of the team’s back-to-back on Sunday against the Tampa Bay Lightning. This will be Pittsburgh’s ninth back-to-back slate this season, and they are 7-9 overall in those games – including 1-7 in the first half of them and 6-2 in the second game.
Sullivan ruled forwards Evgeni Malkin and Philip Tomasino out for Saturday’s game, as they are both still day-to-day. This means that Pittsburgh will deploy the same lineup it did against the Oilers, since they have no extra forwards on their roster right now.
Defenseman Erik Karlsson will be a player to watch in this game, as he has 12 points in his last 11 games and 19 in his last 20. Ottawa drafted Karlsson 15th overall in the 2008 NHL Draft and he spent the first nine seasons of his NHL career with the Senators, registering 126 goals and 518 points in 627 games.
Karlsson has six points in 11 games against his former team.
