OTTAWA - If the New Jersey Devils manage to avoid elimination Saturday, they may receive a welcome rest.

Should the Eastern Conference semifinal series between the Devils and Ottawa Senators need a sixth game in Ottawa on Monday, it very well could be postponed due to a potential strike by the staff at Scotiabank Place.

The Senators posted a 3-2 victory over the Devils on Wednesday to take a three-games-to-one lead in the series. However, if New Jersey wins Game 5 at home on Saturday, the series is scheduled to shift back to Ottawa for Game 6.

Without a new contract with Capital Sports Properties Inc., the company that owns the building, arena workers — including Zamboni drivers — are legally entitled to go on strike at 12:01 a.m. EST on Monday, with the game slated to take place later that evening. According to a report by the CBC on Tuesday, those workers voted in favor of walking, leaving the status of Game 6 up in the air.

However, Scotiabank Place vice president Tom Conroy ensured the arena would not be shut down and remains optimistic a deal can be reached prior to the deadline.

“Until we’re in a strike position, I’m not going to speculate on how we’re going to operate other than to say we’re going to operate in a business-as-usual position,” he told CBC’s web site Tuesday.

Among the items the workers need to agree upon with Capital Sports Properties are wages, benefits, job security and scheduling.  The sides are scheduled to meet with an arbitrator Thursday.

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