The last five games of the season are really a grind, especially when you’re out of playoff contention. This afternoon, neither of the teams playing at Little Caesars Arena will be competing for the Stanley Cup this Spring, but there is another prize on the line and his name is Rasmus Dahlin.

The Ottawa Senators have had a controversial season, to say the least, and with an apparent rift between team ownership and their star player, they could use another star Swedish defenseman to launch them back into Cup contention. Detroit could use the same. According to the NHL Strength of Schedule Twitter account, the Wings have an easier end to their season than the Senators do, which is not good news for a team looking for better lottery odds.

That being said, the Wings have shut down one of their best players in Mike Green. With their lineup getting younger, there’s a good chance they give this one up to the Senators. They are 2-1-0 against Ottawa this season and those in Team Tank are hoping it becomes 2-2-0 this afternoon.

Not much is expected to change for the Red Wings lines today. They received a surge of offense from their youth on Thursday as Evgeny Svechnikov, Dylan Larkin, and Anthony Mantha all had a goal and an assist. Some may want to see Svechnikov higher in the lineup, but Jeff Blashill is slowly giving him more minutes and, frankly, there’s no rush to get him there at this point.

The first line is going to stick together as they’ve been one of Detroit’s most productive lines, and that’s fine with me. I love seeing Larkin and Mantha playing together. I’d just really love to see Andreas Athansiou bumped up onto that line and Darren Helm dropped back down to put that checking line back together with Frans Nielsen and Justin Abdelkader.

The Wings have also been getting some goals from their defense as Danny DeKeyser and Niklas Kronwall each potted one in the last two games. With Green out of the lineup, Joe Hicketts continues to get an extended look in the NHL. With two assists against Pittsburgh and one against Buffalo, he’s playing at a point-per-game pace this season, with three points in his three games played.

The Senators have had a weird season. When they added Matt Duchene earlier in the year, I thought they were gearing up to make a run. Then everything came crumbling down as the team tried to move their captain and best player at the trade deadline, but only if the receiving team would also take Bobby Ryan‘s contract too. Of course, neither happened and this is the lineup they are left with today.

Duchene is centering the top line with Ryan and Ryan Dzingel. Mike Hoffman, the team’s leading goal scorer with 22, is on the second line centered by Jean-Gabriel Pageau. With their leading point-getter, Mark Stone, shut down for the season with a leg injury, Tom Pyatt is filling in on that line. I don’t recognize any of the names on their fourth line except for Alexandre Burrows and I can’t help but laugh seeing as he cleared waivers earlier this year and now he’s back in a Sens jersey.

On the blueline, Erik Karlsson will make the trip to Detroit after the tragic loss of his newborn son a couple of weeks ago. Karlsson has been day-to-day with the team, playing home games but skipping road games to be at home with his wife. It sounds like they’re using Detroit to ease back into travel since it’s close. He’ll re-asses the rest of their road games after. Thomas Chabot will pair with him on the top line.

Mike Condon vs. Jimmy Howard

Mike Condon has played in 30 games this year and gone 5-16-5. That’s… not great. His .901 save percentage is far below league average and 3.29 goals against average has me worried that the Wings are going to light him up. In his last five games, Condon has only won one. So you could look at this two ways: one, he’s bad and will probably let in a lot of goals today, or two, he’s due for a win. If I were a Sens fan, I wouldn’t be holding my breath for number two.

As for Jimmy Howard, it’s weird to say, but he’s been one of the bright spots on this Red Wings team this season. Despite being streaky, Howard has been the primary reason for most of the team’s wins, putting up a mediocre .909 save percentage behind a terrible defense corps. He’s 3-2-0 in his last five and isn’t facing a ton of offense in Ottawa’s top-6. With how bad Jared Coreau has been since his call-up, it wouldn’t surprise me to see Howard start every game for the rest of the season.

As always, you’ll be able to watch the game on Fox Sports Detroit with Mickey, Kenny, and the whole crew. If you’re in Canada, you can tune in on Sportsnet1. Puck drop is at 2:00 P.M. ET.

Make sure you’re following us on Twitter and join in on the conversation during the game. We’ll have gifs, chirps, and general sadness on the state of this team.