Game 61 Preview + Open Thread: Flyers @ Senators

The bad news just does not stop, does it?

Yesterday we learned that Thomas Chabot has a broken hand, and it looks like his season is over. There are only 22 games left, but this season’s really taking away our fun and good news. While fans of the Ottawa Senators can vote for the team as much or as little as they want, the players do not have that luxury because there is still a lot of hockey to play, and many of them will be playing for jobs next season.

And what’s the last nine games before Monday’s trade deadline, the Philadelphia Flyers are coming to Ottawa as a team that has had a similarly terrible season. They have a nasty record of 19-30-11, just 2 points ahead of the Senators despite many talented players on their roster. Players are low in this contest, but this is a good opportunity to find some silver lines at the end of the night.

Here are tonight’s projected lines (which may change this afternoon), with Anton Forsberg online:

However, Bruce Garrioch reports that changes could be made later today regarding Nick Paul, Zach Sanford and Josh Brown:

• I expect Chabot’s displeasure to be a great loss to her, because no one else comes close to what he brings. The defense will be doing a massive job, but hopefully Erik Brännström will shine.
• Meanwhile, Tim Stützle is also out of the lineup, though that could change at any time. He has a lower body injury and it is not clear what his status is.
• The first pair of Brännström-Zub will be interesting to watch, and I hope they build a chemistry to end the season.
• Nick Paul gets a lot of attention, it seems he is not close to signing again with the senators. If he is treated, he will surely be missing in Ottawa.
• Claude Giroux is another name that will not playas the longtime flyer played his 1000th game on Thursday, but is kept out of the lineup while it seems he will inevitably be treated somewhere. The last rumor was Floridabut who knows if that’s true.
• Ottawa has lost three straight games and is 2-8-0 in the last 10 games, while Philadelphia has won its last game but is 4-5-1 in the last 10.
• The only matchup between the two happened on December 18th, which was right in front of a line of crazy players for Ottawa. The Flyers won 4-3 in overtime in a fun match where the Senators led until 5:25.