Daily Faceoff Live: Can the Senators make a run for the playoffs?

Frank Seravalli was joined by Mike McKenna on the latest episode of Daily Faceoff Live to discuss whether the Ottawa Senators have a chance to make a run for the playoffs.

Frank Seravalli: The Ottawa Senators have been on a pretty good run that not a lot of people have been talking about outside of the Ottawa market. That is probably based on the fact that they’re still lagging a bit behind in the standings, thanks to a really tough start to the season. Don’t look now, the Sens are 7-3 in their last 10 and they rocked the Montreal Canadiens on Wednesday night and I know the 3-2 score might not indicate it but it was a really well-played game by the Sens.

And so when you look at this team now moving forward Mike, you take a look at the standings they’re seven points back of the wildcard spot. I think we would all firmly agree, looking at the wildcard spot and how everything has shaped up this year, that a team like the Florida Panthers three points out of it are certainly within the realm of possibility to make the playoffs. Is there any chance that the Sens could get it together?

Mike McKenna: I don’t think at this stage, this far into the season seven points back it looks very unlikely. They would have to go on a run similar to the St. Louis Blues in 2019 when they won the Stanley Cup. That was a little bit later than the Sens find themselves. Can it happen? Yeah, but here’s the thing about Ottawa that I do like. They’ve got quality goaltending from Talbot and Forsberg, I had them 15th on my goalie tandem rankings, Talbot’s had two incredible games since. They’ve probably risen in the rankings in the last week.

The power play has been so good Frank, I’m not sure if it can be sustainable. They’ve got 12 goals in the last seven games and they’ve had an easy schedule though. That’s the part that really makes me nervous of them being able to gain ground as they’ve played the Ducks twice, L.A. twice, San Jose and Montreal in these last 10 games. And they’ve made good on it, you have to win those. How are they going to do against better competition? I’m not sure of that but another thing that really stood out was a conversation I had with Marc Methot today saying they are really playing better defensively. They’re coming back into the zone, they’re a five man unit sorting it out, the forwards have better back pressure.

So, I would say that details are better for Ottawa and they’ve been getting great contributions, especially from Batherson, Pinto, and DeBrincat together. I just don’t know the sustainability when they go up against tougher competition.

You can watch the rest of the episode here…