At the Rink: Sharks at Senators

OTTAWA – The Ottawa Senators will take over the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference if they earn at least a point against the San Jose Sharks at Canadian Tire Centre on Monday.

Ottawa trails the Boston Bruins by one point, but has played two less games. The Senators have not held a playoff position since late November and were 14 points out of the second wild card Feb. 10. They have been boosted by goaltender Andrew Hammond's 13-0-1 record as a starter, but Hammond said nothing changes just because the Senators are now close to a playoff spot.

"It's just another game we need win," he said. "Obviously tonight there is a little more on the line. The most important thing is being there after 82 games, not after tonight.

"You can't get caught up in [taking over a playoff spot] now that you're here. You just need to keep doing what got you here. Everyone for the most part is just worrying about each game, each night that we had and didn't worry about the following game or the game two nights later. It's given us a lot of success and maybe made the tall hill we had to climb seem not so steep."

Hammond and wing Bobby Ryan said taking over the playoff spot hasn't been a topic in the Senators dressing room and the players' approach to this game remains the same.

"I don't think it's changed," Ryan said. "Nobody really spent much time talking about it. It's been so calculated. It's been day off, come in for a game, day off, come in for a game. The engine is running. You don't want to change anything. We haven't spent much time focusing on other teams. We've just got to worry about ourselves."

Said Hammond: "Just because the reality is if we get two points tonight we'll be in, I don't think people are getting caught up in that. We know better. You don't win a playoff spot tonight."

Senators coach Dave Cameron will be forced to change his lineup against the Sharks after forwards Milan Michalek and Matt Puempel were injured Saturday in a win against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Michalek sustained an upper-body injury and Puempel has a high ankle sprain.

Forwards Zack Smith, who has been out with a dislocated wrist since Dec. 13, and Colin Greening, a scratch for the past nine games, will play.

The Sharks are 6-9-0 in their past 15 games and have lost ground in the Western Conference playoff race. They are six points behind the Calgary Flames for third place in the Pacific Division and eight points behind the Winnipeg Jets for the second wild card in the West.

The Sharks have scored more than two goals in a game once in their past seven games.

"We're in desperation mode," Sharks coach Todd McLellan said. "Every point, every minute is important to our hockey club. Right now we have two teams, ourselves and Ottawa, that are on the outside looking in. Their picture is a little brighter than ours. We expect that desperation level to be evident tonight in our play and certainly in theirs."

Sharks defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic said his team could take a lesson from the Senators.

"Any team can go on a roll. Any team can be in a slump. You've just got to play as a team. The effort has to be there. Ottawa has shown that," he said.

"(Hammond's) been playing well. Their team has been playing well. It doesn't matter if they've been winning 5-4 or 2-1, they find ways to win and that's what you need at this time of year."

Here are the projected lineups:

SHARKS

Melker Karlsson – Joe Thornton – Joe Pavelski

Patrick Marleau – Chris Tierney – Tomas Hertl

Matt Nieto – Logan Couture – Tommy Wingels

Daniil Tarasov – Ben Smith – Barclay Goodrow

Marc-Edouard Vlasic – Justin Braun

Matt Irwin – Brent Burns

Mirco Mueller – Brenden Dillon

Antti Niemi

Alex Stalock

Scratched: John Scott, Scott Hannan

Injured: Mike Brown (broken fibula), Raffi Torres (knee)

SENATORS

Mark Stone – Kyle Turris – Alex Chiasson

Mike Hoffman – Mika Zibanejad - Bobby Ryan

Erik Condra – Jean-Gabriel Pageau – Curtis Lazar

Colin Greening – David Legwand – Zack Smith

Marc Methot - Erik Karlsson

Patrick Wiercioch - Cody Ceci

Mark Borowiecki – Eric Gryba

Andrew Hammond

Chris Driedger

Scratched: Jared Cowen

Injured: Robin Lehner (concussion), Clarke MacArthur (concussion), Chris Phillips (back), Chris Neil (thumb), Craig Anderson (hand), Milan Michalek (upper body), Matt Puempel (ankle)

Status report: MacArthur took part in the morning skate and said he has set this weekend as a target for his return … Anderson has undergone more testing on his right hand, but no date has been set for his return … Smith missed 39 games.

Who's hot: Turris has four goals and two assists in his past three games … Stone has a goal and four assists in his past three games … Zibanejad has three assists in his past three games.