GAME DAY PREVIEW: SENATORS VERSUS PENGUINS

The Series So Far There has been no doubt recently that the Ottawa Senators’ final home game of the regular season on Tuesday night against Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins would be an important one. But with the Penguins having now lost three straight and nine of their past 12, it has taken on a whole new level of significance. In the fight for the final wild-card playoff spot in the East, the Senators sit two points back of Pittsburgh, Detroit and Boston, and each team has three games to play. While the Senators dropped both games against Pittsburgh this season, they were in both until the very end. They lost 3-2 at Pittsburgh on Dec. 6 when Crosby found a wide-open Christian Ehrhoff for the game-winning goal with under two minutes to play, and on Feb. 12 in Ottawa they forced overtime with two late goals 13 seconds apart, only to fall 5-4 in the shootout.

Players to watch Sidney Crosby, Penguins: The Connor McDavid era is on the horizon and Sid the Kid is now 27, playing in his 10th NHL season. Looking over the numbers from the first decade, the consistency shown has been remarkable. His points per game in his rookie season came in at 1.26, and since then he’s never been below 1.3, following Year 1 with per-game points production of 1.52, 1.36, 1.34, 1.35, 1.61, 1.68, 1.56 and 1.3. Crosby’s PPG is at a career-low 1.11 this season, but entering the week he was still leading the way in his bid for a third Art Ross Trophy as league scoring champion, although three players were within two points of him. Paul Martin, Penguins: With Kris Letang (concussion), Olli Maatta (shoulder) and Christian Ehrhoff (upper body) all out with injuries recently, the Penguins have been leaning on 34-year-old Martin. He led the team in ice time in both weekend losses leads and also leads Pittsburgh in plusminus on the season at plus 20. Mika Zibanejad, Senators: When Zibanejad scored on the weekend against Washington, it made Ottawa the first team with five 20-goal scorers. Bobby Ryan, despite his recent struggles (one goal in the past 17), has 18 and a chance to join Mike Hoffman, Kyle Turris, Mark Stone, Erik Karlsson and Zibanejad in the club. TV: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, RDS. TSN5 Radio: TSN 1200