Regular season hockey has finally returned to the Nation’s Capital.
It has been more than 180 days since the Ottawa Senators played a home game within the friendly confines of the Canadian Tire Centre. That changes tonight when the Sens play their home opener against Matt Duchene, Nathan MacKinnon and the rest of the high flying Colorado Avalanche.
And as high flying as they seem to be on paper, the Avalanche have stumbled out of the blocks a little bit this season. Last year they got off to an incredibly hot start thanks to some great goaltending by Semyon Varlamov but they haven’t had the same luck this season. The Avs have posted a 1-2-1 record through their first four games and have been outscored 12-4 in the process. Their last outing was a 3-2 overtime loss in Toronto. This Avalanche team can run around in their own end a bit at times but they have some great talent up front that can really hurt you if you give them room.
For Ottawa, the biggest challenge will be continuous improvement from the defence. MacLean has made defensive zone coverage a priority this year and it seems like his team has been improving a little bit with each game. On home ice, MacLean will be able to get the match ups he likes which is always an advantage. The Avs play MacKinnon and Duchene on separate lines so Ottawa won’t be able to just focus on shutting down one line.
Lots of line up talking heading into this one which should be expected as long as the Senators are carrying 23 players. Based on what we heard from the Coach yesterday, it seems like Jared Cowen is a likely candidate to spend another game in the press box.
Here’s how the Senators are expected to line up.
MacArthur-Turris-Stone
Ryan-Zibanejad-Chiasson
Michalek-Smith-Lazar
Condra-Legwand-Neil
Phillips-Karlsson
Wiercioch-Ceci
Borowiecki-Gryba
MacLean has not announced a starting goalie yet but Craig Anderson is a pretty safe bet to get the nod against his former team.
The game is a sellout but there are still some standing room tickets left on Capital Tickets. The good folks at Broker4Tickets (see the ad below this post) have a few pairs of tickets left at great prices. If you’re headed to the game, remember to be obnoxiously loud and also, be in your seat by 7:15 PM as they have a big ol’ pregame show planned that is supposed to be pretty impressive.
Sources tell me there will be no Spartan involved.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go listen to this song for the next 10 hours.
