Game Day 5: OTT at PHI

1. The set up:

It's the second night of a back-to-back for both the Senators and the Flyers coming into this contest. The Senators fell to the Coyotes 5-3 at home while the Flyers fell to the Capitals 5-2 in Washington.

Fighting for playoff positioning is on both of these teams minds as the Senators are beginning to run short on runway sitting 17 points out of the final playoff spot with just 24 games to go, while the Flyers hold just a four point lead on Washington for the third spot in the Metropolitan Division.

The Senators have gotten dinged up of late, with Josh Norris and Travis Hamonic expected to miss considerable time, while Thomas Chabot will be a gametime decision and both Joonas Korpisalo and Anton Forsberg will miss this contest with illness and injury respectively. Nonetheless, this Senators team has embraced the next man up mentality and will lean on their leadership to get a strong start out of the gates.

Things have been tough of late for the Flyers who have dropped five of their last seven outings and suffered a major loss with Travs Konecny out since Feb. 21. However, this Flyers team is pesky, boasting the second best penalty kill unit in the NHL and allowing fewer than three goals per game. 

Expect both sides to be hungry out of the gates to get back in the win column.

2. Roster report:

Thomas Chabot will be a game time decision tonight while Anton Forsberg suffered a lower body injury during last night's game. With Joonas Korpisalo still out with illness the Senators have recalled goaltenders Mads Sogaard and Leevi Merilainen as well as defenceman Max Guenette. Below is how the Senators lined up last night against the Arizona Coyotes:

3. Who to watch:

Philadelphia is where Shane Pinto got to make his return to the Senators line-up this season and his impact was felt immediately. Though he didn't register his first goal until the following game against Montreal, the added depth Pinto brought to the line-up couldn't be ignored and his impact has been consistent ever since. 

In 17 games, Pinto has six goals and nine assists for 15 points, which even with only playing half the season has him on pace to set new career highs in assists and points besting his marks of 15 and 35 respectively set last season in a full 82 games. With Josh Norris sidelined, Pinto will have a larger role to fill and as we have seen in the past he is up to the challenge.

4. History of Sens vs Flyers:

Tonight will be the 108th match up between these two Eastern Conference foes with the Flyers owning a narrow lead with 51 wins and 48 losses and eight additional ties. However, recent years have belonged to the Senators winning six of the eight games played since the start of the 2021-22 NHL season. 

These two sides have met twice in the playoffs. First in 2002 when the Senators won 4-1 in the first round and then a second time when the Senators won 4-2 in the 2003 Eastern Conference semi-finals.

Of course, this battle has a common denominator in Claude Giroux who played against the Senators 41 times as a member of the Philadelphia Flyers, including his NHL debut back on Feb. 19, 2008. Since joining the Sens, Giroux has a 4-1 record in this battle and has a knack for tallying points as he will look to add another win tonight.

5. Where to watch:

Tonight's game can be found live on Sportsnet One in English and TVAS2 in French. Additionally, TSN1200 and Unique FM 94,5 have you covered on the radio with the English and French calls.