The Ottawa Senators aren’t accustomed to being atop the Eastern Conference wild-card race in late January.
Meanwhile, the New York Rangers didn’t expect to be on the outside looking in at the playoff picture beyond the halfway point of the season.
Both teams will aim to extend point streaks Tuesday night when the Senators visit the Rangers in the second clash of the season between the teams.
Each club was off Monday after playing Sunday. Ottawa began a three-game Eastern Conference road trip with a 2-1 win over New Jersey and New York fell at Montreal 5-4 in overtime.
The Senators’ second straight win extended their point streak to six games (5-0-1) and ensured they’d take the ice Tuesday no worse than tied for a wild-card spot.
Ottawa and Boston occupy the two spots with 52 points each after the Bruins beat San Jose 6-3 on Monday. Both teams could fall behind Columbus for the top wild-card spot if the Blue Jackets win their road game against the Islanders on Monday night.
The Senators’ six-game point streak is their longest since a seven-game streak from March 2-14, 2017 (6-0-1), weeks before Ottawa advanced to the Eastern Conference finals in its most recent playoff appearance. Only the Buffalo Sabres (13 years) and Detroit Red Wings (eight years) have longer postseason droughts.
The Senators have outscored their opponents 18-9 amid their current point streak. Josh Norris and Tim Stutzle have each scored three times during that span, while Claude Giroux and Shane Pinto have each supplied six points.
“During this stretch, I think the commitment to playing has been key,” Ottawa coach Travis Green said. “Not just away from the puck, but with the puck. We’ve talked a lot from day one about being a 200-foot team and that takes not a commitment by half your team, but by everybody.”
The Rangers collected at least a point for the eighth straight game (5-0-3) on Sunday but squandered a quartet of one-goal leads. They were left lamenting their inability to close out the win against the Canadiens, who moved two points ahead of New York with the victory.
The Rangers have 48 points, leaving them two behind the Blue Jackets ahead of their game against the Islanders.
New York entered this season as one of the favorites to contend for the Stanley Cup after winning the Presidents’ Trophy last season. But after racing out to a 12-4-1 start, New York went 5-16-0 from Nov. 21 through Jan. 4, a stretch in which it briefly fell into last place in the Metropolitan Division and traded former captain Jacob Trouba to the Anaheim Ducks.
“Obviously (Montreal) is a team that we’re right there with in the standings, so that extra point is important,” said Rangers defenseman Adam Fox, who had a pair of assists Sunday.
“Any time you don’t grab that extra point, those are the differences down the road. Obviously the margins are thin and now we’ve got to find a way to be getting these two points.”
Fox is second on the team with 36 points (two goals, 34 assists) behind wing Artemi Panarin, who has 48 (19 goals, 29 assists).
New York beat visiting Ottawa 2-1 in the teams’ first meeting Nov. 1.
–Field Level Media
