Less than 24 hours after an emotional night at the Canadian Tire Centre, the Ottawa Senators are back in action against the high-flying Chicago Blackhawks.
The Senators played decent for stretches of last night’s game but in the end, it was a quick shot by Jaromir Jagr that ended the game in overtime and gave the New Jersey Devils the extra point. Ottawa had some chances to win the game but they’ll be happy with the single point.
Back to back are always tough but playing one of the league’s powerhouse teams means the Sens will have to be at their absolute best to win at the United Centre. The Blackhawks are off to another strong start this season. They’ve posted a 4-2-1 through their first seven games including a +7 goal differential. As strong as they’ve been out of the blocks, Chicago has lost two straight including a 3-2 loss at the hands of the St. Louis Blues last night.
Their usual starting goalie Corey Crawford is out with an injury which means the Senators could end up facing Scott Darling, a 25 year old Illinois native who will be making his first start in the National Hockey League. Getting pucks on net early will be important for the Sens as they find out exactly what Darling is made of. You know his nerves will be high coming into this one.
Meanwhile, there are plenty of line up question marks for Paul MacLean and his staff. Mac juggled the lines a little bit in the third period last night and it seemed to work. Bobby Ryan was back up on the top line with MacArthur and Turris and looked damn good. I would imagine MacLean is tempted to start with that combination again tonight.
Colin Greening and Erik Condra both draw back into the Ottawa line up. Mark Stone and Curtis Lazar come out.
No morning skate for the Senators today so we’ll have to wait until a little closer to game time to find out exactly how they’ll line up. Craig Anderson gets the start.
Puck drop is scheduled for just after 7:00 PM with the game available on CityTV, whatever the hell that is. For anyone watching on Bell, that’s channel 803 on your guide.
