Three games into the Dave Cameron era, the Senators have looked like a different team. The results haven’t always been there but look like a more aggressive team and for the most part, a more entertaining team to watch.
It’s going to be a battle to stay in the playoff hunt and until this team can string together some regulation wins, they’ll remain on the outside looking in. The Senators have won just one game in regulation since November 7th. That just isn’t good enough.
They have a chance to get back on track heading into the holiday break with four games in the next six days. After tonight’s game in New Jersey, they return home to play the Ducks, then back on the road for games in Montreal and Washington.
The Devils are one of the oldest teams in the National Hockey League and have struggled for most of the season. They are 11-15-6 and sit two points back of Ottawa in the East. Offence has probably been their biggest issue for far this season as they sit 25th in the NHL in goals per game with just 2.28 per game. And while the offence has struggled, the incredible Jaromir Jagr continues to rack up points. He leads the team with 20 points and now sits 5th in all-time scoring, just 23 points back of Ron Francis. Pretty incredible that at 42 years of age he’s still leading an NHL team in scoring.
Jean Gabriel Pageau will make his season debut in this one. Pageau was called up prior to the game against Buffalo but did not play against the Sabres. We’ll wait for the morning skate to see who comes out but according to Cameron’s comments yesterday, Pageau will play. Looks like he takes the place of Colin Greening On defence, Chris Phillips is expected to return after two games as a healthy scratch. Patrick Wiercioch, who is a little banged up anyway, comes out on the blueline.
Just an optional morning skate for the Senators today. The bottom six is a little tough to figure out but here’s how Gord Wilson expects them to line up.
MacArthur-Sirrut-Stone
Hoffman-Zibanejad-Ryan
Legwand-Pageau-Michalek
Condra-Lazar-Chiasson
Borowiecki-Karlsson
Cowen-Ceci
Phillips-Gryba
Craig Anderson gets the start in the Ottawa goal. Puck drop is scheduled for just after 7:00 PM with the game available on Sportsnet.
