Devils at Senators
THE STORY: The Ottawa Senators appear secure in punching a ticket to the postseason, but will hardly settle for a seventh seed. The Senators will look to make up ground in the Eastern Conference when they host the sixth-place New Jersey Devils. This is the third of four meetings - with the Senators winning the last contest 5-4 in overtime.
TV: 7:30 P.M. ET. RDS, MSG Plus, SNET-East
ABOUT THE SENATORS (37-26-10): With just nine games left in the regular season, time is running out in Ottawa’s effort to surpass Boston. The Bruins are three points ahead of the Senators with a game in hand in the Northeast Division. “You can look at any game and find a reason to say (it’s important),” captain Daniel Alfredsson said. “You play a team that’s below (in the standings), you say you have to win this game because they’re below you. Or you play a team that’s ahead of you and you say you have to win this game because you want to catch them. ... Every game is important.”
ABOUT THE DEVILS (41-27-5): The sixth seed in the East is arguably one of the better places to finish, at least in terms of a first-round playoff matchup. But if the Devils want to draw that opponent, they’ll need to snap a two-game losing streak against the Senators, who are threatening to overtake them in the standings. “At this time of year, we’ve seen how losing two, three games can bump you down pretty far in the standings,” captain Zach Parise said. “... There’s not a very wide margin for error right now.”
OVERTIME:
1. Ottawa goalie Ben Bishop (3-1-2) is expected to receive his seventh straight start.
2. Senators’ Erik Karlsson leads all NHL defensemen with 52 assists and 71 points.
3. Ilya Kovalchuk has five goals and six assists in his last eight games for the Devils. His next tally will be the 400th of his career.