Ottawa's problems are on the back end. This is the first season of what CTV called the post-Tkachuk era, with Thomas Chabot wearing the C, and Chabot is now the injury to watch. He took a hit in the first period of the 3-1 loss in Philadelphia, looked to be favoring his right wrist, and didn't come out for the third. He's listed day-to-day with an undisclosed injury. Jake Sanderson has played 1 game all season and is still listed out, though he's been skating in full contact.
If both are out Wednesday, Ottawa goes up against the hottest offense it has seen in a while with its 2 best puck-moving defensemen in street clothes. Artem Zub was on track to return against the Islanders after a lower-body injury from last postseason, and Cameron Crotty is back at full practice to cover the left side. That's real NHL depth. It still isn't Chabot and Sanderson, and Florida forechecks hard enough to find the weak pair.
The Senators' recent results have been all over the place. They're 6-3-0, 3-2 in the last 5 as of Saturday, and they've lost their last game. They beat Nashville 3-2 and the Islanders 2-1 in tight games, won 4-1 in New Jersey, and in between got blown out 7-2 at home by St. Louis. When the game stays low-scoring, Ottawa has been comfortable. When it opens up, things have gotten ugly fast.
That makes pace the question for Wednesday. Florida has spent the past week turning games into track meets without Barkov or Marchand. Ottawa wins 2-1 and 3-2 games and needs its defense healthy to play that way. Puck drop is 7:30 PM ET. The update to watch is whether Chabot's wrist and Sanderson's return line up before then. The board hasn't posted a price yet, and the picks open once it does.