The Sens are still likely playoff-bound as an East wild card, but they have slowed and haven't secured their spot in the postseason just yet, either.
The offense is sputtering, with just two goals across the past two games, losses to the subpar Penguins and Sabres, putting lots of pressure on Linus Ullmark in goal to keep the opponents at bay. Ottawa could have picked a better foe tonight than the surging Lightning, which looks serious about securing the top spot in the Atlantic and thus avoiding either the Leafs or Panthers in the first round. Indeed...Tampa Bay has hit overdrive with four straight wins, by a collective 23-5 scoreline. Note that across his last three starts (all wins) in goal, Andrei Vasilevskiy has stopped 67 of the 69 shots fired at him (.971 saves...sheesh!). Play Lightning on ML