Senators from Ottawa
In late February and early March, Ottawa was able to record a streak of 5 straight wins, scoring at least 5 goals each. It is possible that now the “senators” have started to fall, but it is too early to judge because. after being excluded from Chicago, they were able to beat strong Seattle (5:4) away. In the last meeting with Vancouver, DJ Smith’s team lost again and dropped to 11th place. They are 6 points short of the play-off zone, and in the only regular game of the season against Calgary the Senators won in overtime – 4:3.
Calgary flames
Darryl Sutter’s team is in a long nerf phase and can’t usually win more than two games in a row. After a five-game losing streak, the Lights broke the resistance of Dallas (5-4) and Minnesota (1-0) on penalties, but these were away fixtures where Calgary fared better than at home (7 vs. 11 at the crossover). Back on home ice, the Flames lost again and Anaheim became a three-goal culprit – 3-1.
Forecast
The current state of the “lights” cannot be called satisfactory. Rare wins with a lot of losses. Calgary is a poor performer in front of their stands, having lost 7 out of 9 games and rarely go without conceding at least 3 goals, which was the case in 9 out of 11 matches. The Outsiders facing Columbus, Anaheim, Philadelphia and Chicago were able to take 3 points at the Scoshabank Saddledome Arena, with which Ottawa is no weaker and has been able to score on their ice in 4 of their last 5 visits.