Life without Jason Spezza begins tonight for your Ottawa Senators. Possibly out for six weeks or more, Ottawa will begin an important stretch of games that will decide their plans come April. I see it playing out two ways for the Senators:
One – the team comes together in the face of adversity and play every game like its their last. Everybody will need to elevate their play as Ottawa would need to win at least 30 out of their last 45 games to have any chance to grab the last playoff spot in the East. 30 wins put them at 96 points, which might be enough to squeak into the playoffs. To win those 30 games, Ottawa needs to play 0.666% hockey, essentially winning 2 out of every 3 games. To do this, Ottawa needs to be playing playoff hockey starting now which could give them an edge going into the playoffs.
Two– the other option is to use the Spezza injury as an excuse for failure. It would be understandable if the Sens fail to make the playoffs with Spezza out as Ottawa is already one of the lowest scoring teams in the league. With their number one centre gone, it can be expected Ottawa will have a tough time scoring and the Sens do not have the defence and goaltending to win games 1-0.
How the Sens fare will be up to them. We’ll find out starting tonight.