The 17-18-and-4 Detroit Red Wings host the 19-17-and-2 Ottawa Senators this evening (7 PM EST start on FanDuel SportsNet Detroit/TSN5/RDS/97.1 FM), and the game is crucial for both teams.
The Red Wings have won 4 straight games, but need to make up ground in the Eastern Conference and Atlantic Division standings; Ottawa has lost 4 of their last 5 games without goaltender Linus Ullmark, who is having back spasms, and the Ottawa Sun’s Bruce Garrioch summarizes the Senators’ situation thusly:
The Senators woke up on the outside of the National Hockey League’s playoff picture for the first time in three weeks on Monday morning.
The club has lost four of its last five games without top goaltender Linus Ullmark and the Senators need to right the ship to stay in the race.
Detroit has won four straight under new head coach Todd McLellan and the Wings are one of the teams the Senators are battling to make the playoffs for the first time in eight years.
The Senators scored a 2-1 win over the Wings on Dec. 5 at home.
“You see the standings. I watch a lot of hockey,” said centre Tim Stutzle after the club’s skate on Monday. “We’ve just got to focus on ourselves, and we want to win as many games as we can. It’s about us in here and it doesn’t really matter what other teams do. We’re just trying to win our games.”
Field Level Media also took note of the Sens’ issues of late…
The Senators will wrap up a nine-game road trip on Tuesday. They have dropped four of their last five games.
St. Louis blanked the Senators 4-0 in their last game on Friday. Ottawa returned home thanks to a three-day break in the schedule before hitting the road again.
“It’s been a long month,” forward Drake Batherson said after the Blues game. “We’ve been on the road with the world juniors at home. It will be nice to get back, regroup a bit and then head to Detroit. We’re .500 when you look at the last eight games on the road, so we can look at that and take a positive out of that, but it’s been a tough couple of games to end it. It will be nice to get home, give everyone a chance to see their families, have a day off and then get back at it.”
MLive’s Tyler Kuehl offers a succinct summary of the Wings’ situation:
Heading into Tuesday night, the Wings are seventh in the Atlantic Division, three points behind the Montreal Canadiens for the last Wild Card spot in the conference. Ottawa, sitting fifth in the division, are 12 points back of the first-place Toronto Maple Leafs, and one point back of the Habs.
This is the second of four matchups this season between the Wings and Sens. Ottawa won the first meeting in Ontario last month.
Here are tonight’s game notes:
The Red Wings hit the ice at Little Caesars Arena just before 10:30 AM for their morning skate:
#RedWings skate before hosting Ottawa tonight (7, @FanDuelSN_DET). Lyon in starter’s net. pic.twitter.com/lqNdUrQxqi
— Ansar Khan (@AnsarKhanMLive) January 7, 2025
#RedWings lines:
— Ansar Khan (@AnsarKhanMLive) January 7, 2025
Veleno-Larkin-Raymond
DeBrincat-Copp-Kane
Berggren-Compher-Tarasenko
Rasmussen-Kasper-Motte
Fischer extra
Chiarot-Seider
Edvinsson-Holl
Gustafsson//Johansson/Lagesson rotating.
Lyon/Talbot pic.twitter.com/kmuzPNSF2i
#RedWings power play units:
— Ansar Khan (@AnsarKhanMLive) January 7, 2025
1. DeBrincat (net front), Larkin (bumper), Raymond-Kane (flanks), Seider (point).
2. Rasmussen (net front), Compher (bumper), Kasper-Tarasenko (flanks), Gustafsson (point). pic.twitter.com/cjVNrmLrsL
