Everyone knows that effort against the Nashville Predators on Thursday night was nowhere near good enough.
The offence, the defence, the goaltending, the special teams, the Coaches, the parking lot attendant. Nobody was good enough. It was one of their ugliest losses of the season. But it’s in the past.
We’ll see how they respond tonight against the Florida Panthers.
The Florida Panthers have been a team trending up the last couple seasons and many experts had them in the mix for the Atlantic Division title this year. It certainly hasn’t worked out that way so far.
They come into this one with an underwhelming 8-8-1 record and a negative goal differential. Their offence, defence and special teams have all been pretty average so far this season and despite getting decent goaltending from Roberto Luongo, they’ve had a hard time finding consistency early in the year. Injuries may have something to do with that though as they’ve been missing important players like Nick Bjugstad and Jonathan Huberdeau for most of the year.
Their last game was an ugly loss at the hands of the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Speaking of injury issues, the Ottawa Senators are also being hit by the injury bug for the first time this year. Bobby Ryan is out with a broken finger and is hoping to return later in the week. Mike Hoffman’s issue is with his groin and he’s considered unlikely to play. Chris Neil missed practice yesterday but should be good to go tonight.
Curtis Lazar scored a goal in Binghamton last night with Management in attendance and earned himself a call-up in the process. Freddy Claesson was returned to the BSens.
Option morning skate today so a complete guess at Ottawa’s line up.
Dzingel-Turris-Pyatt
Puempel-Brassard-Stone
Smith-Pageau-Lazar
McCormick-Kelly-Neil
Methot-Karlsson
Phaneuf-Ceci
Borowiecki-Wideman
Craig Anderson will get the start in the Ottawa goal. Puck drop is scheduled for just after 7:00 PM.
