Ottawa Senators goaltender Andrew Hammond continues to be a Cinderella sensation as he has led a remarkable charge by his team for the playoffs. The Senators won a thrilling 6-4 victory against the Boston Bruins on Thursday night to close within two points of Boston for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
Ottawa has one game in hand on Boston and will have three consecutive home games coming up starting on Saturday against the woeful Toronto Maple Leafs. Hammond has an insane .950 save percentage that is not sustainable, but if he can stay reasonably hot for the final month of the regular season the Senators have a legitimate shot at the playoffs as Boston has proven unable to sustain success. Ottawa has quietly become one of the better balanced offensive teams in the NHL with a ranking of 10th for goals scored and nine players in double digits for goals. The Hamburglar should remain between the pipes as top goaltender Craig Anderson is back on the shelf after hurting has hand again.
Truculent Flames Won’t Go Away
The Calgary Flames will enter the weekend in third place in the Pacific Division and have gone 6-3-1 in their last 10 games despite missing team captain and top defenseman Mark Giordano. When Giordano was lost for the season due to injury the Flames were written off for dead but instead they have rallied with their best hockey of the season. The analytics crowd continues to sneer at the Flames, but is also yet to come up with a metric that measures heart and character. Nobody puts it on the line like Calgary and it’s a credit to their organization and leadership structure led by team president Brian Burke. Head coach Bob Hartley should merit serious consideration for the Jack Adams Award as coach of the year.
Calgary will host the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday with two more home games after that. You would be a fool to count out the Flames at this point as their resiliency has become most apparent with the way they have responded to the loss of Giordano.
Up and Down Kings
The Los Angeles Kings have split their last ten games and will host the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday in one of the most important games of the season. The Kings are two points behind the Canucks and Jets for the final wild card spot and once again will have to find the on-switch in a must win four point game. Time and again the thin blue line of the Kings comes into play as evidenced by their 3-2 overtime loss at the Anaheim Ducks on Wednesday night in which LA failed to hold the lead.
Killer or Killed B’s
Once again the Boston Bruins are playing for their playoff lives and riding a three game losing streak that followed a five game winning streak. Boston has a Florida road trip in which they will face the Florida Panthers on Saturday and the Tampa Bay Lightning on Sunday. Florida is five points behind Boston for the final Eastern Conference playoff spot and must win their Saturday matchup if they are to have any hope of making a late charge.
Boston continues to suffer from a lack of scoring and defensive depth. The Bruins rank 19th in the NHL for goal scoring and 21st for shots allowed. Ottawa is in better form these days and has the momentum. Florida has been burned by a lack of offensive depth that will likely prove to be their undoing as the reason they fall short of a playoff bid.
Rangers and Ducks Sunday Night
The best game of the weekend will be on Sunday night as the New York Rangers will host the Anaheim Ducks on NBCSN at 7:30 p.m. ET. The Ducks entered the weekend with the most points in the NHL with the Rangers just two points behind. New York continues to thrive with backup goaltender Cam Talbot in goal. Talbot has a .928 save percentage with five shutouts. Top Ranger goaltender Henrik Lundqvist is due back between the pipes any day now. Anaheim has won seven out of their last ten games as goaltender John Gibson has improved to a .920 save percentage on the season.
