If watching the 28th place Ottawa Senators has you feeling a little low, may I suggest diverting your attention to the city of Belleville for the next few months?
It turns out, as the rumours suggested, the kids are alright.
Another impressive win for the Belleville Senators yesterday, as they rolled into Rockford and upended the Ice Hogs by a 3-0 final. Josh Norris scored his 22nd goal of the season, Alex Formenton scored another breakaway goal and Filip Gustavsson registered his first AHL shutout.
Not a bad day at the office for Troy Mann’s group.
The BSens are now 5-0-1 on this recent road trip and have a ridiculous 16-3-2-0 record as the visitor this season. With yesterday’s win, the Senators have pulled even with Utica for top spot in the Division.
Big test for Belleville tonight though as they visit the Milwaukee Admirals.
The Admirals, AHL affiliate of the Nashville Predators, currently sit atop the standings with an impressive 28-8-4-2 record. That has them seven points clear of the next closest team. They have the league’s best home record too, posting a 15-3-1-1 record and outscoring their opponents by a 72-36 margin.
Belleville will have their hands full in this one.
Doesn’t sound like there will be any changes to the line up although Max Lajoie may return from the illness that kept him out on Monday afternoon. A best guess at the line up for now.
Formenton-Brown-Balcers
Abramov-Norris-Batherson
Klimchuk-Chlapik-Carcone
Kelly-Labate
Brannstrom-Labrie
Murray-Dougherty
Englund-Corrado
Joey Daccord is expected to get the start in goal for the BSens.
Puck drop is scheduled for just after 8:00 PM.
Here’s a closer look at the match-up
| HEAD2HEAD |  |
 |
|---|---|---|
| Record | 25-13-3-1 (54 pts) | 28-8-4-2 (62 pts) |
| Goals For | 155 (1st) | 137 (5th) |
| Goals Against | 130 (18th) | 94 (1st) |
| Power Play | 18.9% (14th) | 24.3% (2nd) |
| Penalty Kill | 79.5% (26th) | 85.3% (5th) |
| Leading Scorers | Batherson- 42 pts Norris- 40 pts Formenton- 33 pts Abramov- 28 pts Balcers- 25 pts |
Carr- 32 pts Schneider- 30 pts Trenin- 26 pts Pitlick- 25 pts Carrier- 25 pts |
| Starting Goalie | Joey Daccord 8-2-2 2.58 GAA, .914 sv% |
Connor Ingram 13-4-4 2.09 GAA, .928 sv% |
-The Senators don’t play again till January 27th which means all should be quiet around the team for the next few days . But it certainly won’t stay that way with the Trade Deadline fast approaching. While Pierre Dorion has done a fine job of avoiding the circus-like atmosphere that seemed to follow this team for most of last season, it can only stay that way for so long. With so many UFAs and RFAs on the roster and a clear rebuild mandate, Dorion is likely to be one of the more popular GMs leading up to February 24th. It’s a little early to know for sure one way or the other and Dorion has suggested in the past that these contracts can happen quickly but a lot of speculation right now suggests that Jean Gabriel Pageau will indeed be in play leading up to deadline day. No shortage of teams that could use a player with his skill-set.
