Maybe this is surprising to some, but I will forever despise the Anaheim Ducks. After defeating the Senators in the Cup Finals in 2007, the Ducks have had two more runs to the conference finals \u2013 2014-15 and interestingly, 2016-17 \u2013 meaning that if they had beat the Nashville Predators in 2017 and Ottawa had defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins, there would’ve been a re-match of the 2006-07 Stanley Cup Finals exactly ten years later. <\/p>\n
Since then, the Ducks have basically been our playoff-less cousins, and haven’t qualified since the 2017-18 season, where they were swept by the Sharks. They currently sit at the top of the Pacific Division with 75 points, two more than your Ottawa Senators. <\/p>\n
I’d be repeating this factoid over and over again to the players before the game, in hopes that they come out firing in a weekend of real consequence for the Senators’ playoff hopes. <\/p>\n
Sens lineup<\/p>\n
Here’s how the Sens lined up at practice yesterday, with Nick Jensen listed as day-to-day with a lower-body injury that’s unrelated to his hip injury<\/a>. <\/p>\n Batherson-Stutzle-Giroux Chabot-Zub Ullmark *No Nick Jensen<\/p>\n \u2014 Graeme Nichols (@graemenichols.bsky.social)<\/a> 2026-03-13T15:03:20.283Z<\/a>Ducks lineup<\/p>\n Here’s how the Ducks lined up last time out against Toronto. They’ll be without Radko Gudas, who will be serving the first game of a five-game suspension after injuring Auston Matthews. John Carlson, acquired from the Washington Capitals in a surprise deadline day trade, might debut either today or tomorrow against Montr\u00e9al. <\/p>\n Here’s who we fly with. #FlyTogether<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/juXbXBamFC<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Anaheim Ducks (@AnaheimDucks) March 12, 2026<\/a> The Sens and Ducks play at 1:00pm ET on TSN5 and TVA Sports in Canada. Ottawa was fortunate that the out of town scoreboard went their way on Thursday night<\/a>, so it’s on them to put pressure on the teams playing after them later this evening with a big win. <\/p>\n Statistics<\/p>\n Game 65SenatorsDucks SenatorsDucks
\nTkachuk-Cozens-Greig
\nCousins-Pinto-Amadio
\nFoegele-Eller-Zetterlund<\/p>\n
\nKleven-Spence
\nGilbert-Matinpalo<\/p>\n
\nReimer<\/p>\n
\nGame notesBoy, is it frustrating to look at the team statistics below and see that Anaheim is somehow leading their division and Ottawa is out of the playoffs.Cutter Gauthier leads Anaheim in basically all meaningful categories, and has rode RW with Chris Kreider and Leo Carlsson for most of the season. Interestingly, over this past month, he’s been taking more reps at centre over Mason McTavish, so I wonder if they eventually see him as 2C behind Carlsson and McTavish as a LW on that line. The Ducks are incredibly top heavy as a team, so one of Ottawa’s top three lines or maybe even their fourth line might be able to take advantage of some poor matchups, especially at home. On defence, Jackson LaCombe is their Jake Sanderson, and Olen Zellweger is their Thomas Chabot. When these two are on the ice, good things happen. Their young third-pair of 67s legend Pavel Mintyukov and Drew Helleson are still finding their feet at the NHL level. There aren’t many teams with a true #1 goaltender, but Dostal is that for Anaheim, having started 45 of their 65 games. Given that both teams are on a back-to-back, it’ll be interesting to see which game Husso and Reimer get. The Senators are going to play Chicago in next season’s Global Series games<\/a> in Germany. This weekend is “Hockey Day in Germany”, and German fans will watch the Sens and Ducks on livestream in select locations across the country. Former Sens player Christoph Schubert is a guest panelist<\/a>. If you’re reading this from Germany, hallo und willkommen!<\/p>\n
\nCategory#Rank#Rank
\nGoals\/GP3.339th3.2513th
\nGoals against\/GP3.1422nd3.5131st
\nShots\/GP28.89th30.43rd
\nShots against\/GP24.32nd2921st
\nPowerplay %23.29th17.424th
\nPenalty Kill %73.330th76.825th
\nCorsi % (5v5 SVA)53.84th51.0210th
\nxGF% (5v5 SVA)55.273rd49.5118th<\/p>\n
\nCategoryPlayer#Player#
\nGoalsSt\u00fctzle30Gauthier33
\nAssistsSanderson40LaCombe38
\nPointsSt\u00fctzle70Gauthier58
\nShotsTkachuk171Gauthier244
\nTOI\/GPSanderson24:49LaCombe24:29<\/p>\n