Last night was a perfect start to this three game road trip.
Not only did the Ottawa Senators pick up another crucial two points but they did it in fairly comfortable fashion. This allowed Guy Boucher to distribute the ice time evenly throughout the line up. Should mean the team has a little bit more energy as they play what is the toughest back to back on their schedule the rest of the way.
Ottawa has three more instances where they play on consecutive nights but in all of those, the opposition will have also played the night before
Meanwhile tonight’s opposition, the Arizona Coyotes, have been off for a full three days.
To nobody’s surprise, it’s been a tough year for the Coyotes. While they have some good prospects on the way, they’re still in the early stages of their rebuild. Their 23-35-7 record has them sitting 29th overall and their -53 goal differential is also second worst. Other than the truly terrible Colorado Avalanche, Arizona has been the league’s worst team this season.
27th ranked on the power play, 26th on the penalty kill, 27th in shots for, 29th in shots against. You get the idea. Not a lot has gone right for this team both on and off the ice.
Really thought the additions of Pavel Datsyuk. Chris Pronger and Dave Bolland would help put this team back on track.
Guy Boucher met with the media this afternoon and as expected, Chris DiDomenico will make his NHL debut. Mark Borowiecki sits with some bumps and bruises while Freddy Claesson stays in the line up.
Burrows-Brassard-Stone
Hoffman-Pageau-Pyatt
Dzingel-Smith-DiDomenico
Stalberg-Kelly-Wingels
Methot-Karlsson
Phaneuf-Ceci
Claesson/Borowiecki-Wideman
Mike Condon is expected to get the start in goal. Puck drop is scheduled for just after 9:00 PM.
