After a couple days to relax following what was probably their biggest win of the season in St. Louis, the Ottawa Senators will get back to work tonight against the Florida Panthers.
Tonight is the first game in another tough back to back that will see that Senators leave Sunrise right after the game and visit the Tampa Bay Lightning- one of the top team’s in the Eastern Conference- tomorrow night. It’s been a weird schedule for the Senators this week but as they showed the other night in St. Louis, a back to back isn’t always a bad thing.
The Florida Panthers were expected to push for a playoff spot this season and so far anyway, are right in the mix. They currently sit just two points back of the Senators and three points back of the Toronto Maple Leafs for the final playoff spot in the East. They haven’t been all that great on home ice this season, posting a 4-4-2 record. Guess playing in a big empty building isn’t really their thing.
Roberto Luongo has been a big part of their success so far this season but he’s nursing a minor injury which means the Senators will face another back up in Al Montoya. He hasn’t played a lot this season but Montoya has actually been pretty solid when given the chance, posting a 1.99 GAA and a .926 save percentage in six appearances.
Paul MacLean made some bold moves prior to that game in St. Louis the other night and it paid off. He’ll make another switch ahead of this one, putting Milan Michalek back into the lineup and taking Colin Greening out. Erik Condra earned another game with his strong performance vs. the Blues. On defence, Mark Borowiecki is a little banged up and is being called a game-time decision.
MacArthur-Turris-Chiasson
Hoffman-Smith-Ryan
Michalek-Lazar-Stone
Condra-Legwand-Neil
Phillips-Karlsson
Cowen-Ceci
Wiercioch-Gryba
Craig Anderson gets the start in the Ottawa goal. Puck drop is scheduled for just after 7:30 PM with the game available on TSN5.
