With wins over Columbus, Montreal and Florida in their back pocket, the Ottawa Senators go looking for their fourth straight victory tonight against the Philadelphia Flyers.
Despite the rock solid play of Robin Lehner over the last three games, Head Coach Paul MacLean will go back to his number one guy. After suffering a scary looking injury against the Dallas Stars back on November 3, Craig Anderson is healthy and ready to return.
While some may question the decision to sit the NHL’s First Star of the Week, Anderson is still this team’s starting goalie and needs to get back in the net. If he falters, Lehner is there, ready to take over the reins. It really is a win-win situation for the Senators.
The Flyers have been a mess in the early going this season but are coming off a 4-2 win over the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday night. Even with that win, the Flyers still find themselves with just 11 points through 16 games. They sit just four points clear of last place in the Eastern Conference.
The Senators were on the ice for practice yesterday and did a little more juggling of the lines. The top trio of MacArthur-Turris-Ryan remained intact while Jason Spezza found himself on line with Milan Michalek and Cory Conacher. I thought Zibanejad looked pretty good against the Panthers on Saturday afternoon but he finds himself back on the fourth line with Kassian and Grant.
(UPDATE 11:17 AM)- Chris Phillips missed the morning skate and is being called a game time decision. If he can’t go, it seems like both Patrick Wiercioch and Joe Corvo would draw into the line up. We’ll have to wait until game time to know for sure. Here is how they looked at the morning skate.
MacArthur-Turris-Ryan
Michalek-Spezza-Conacher
Greening-Smith-Neil
Kassian-Grant-Zibanejad
Cowen-Karlsson
Wiercioch-Corvo
Borowiecki-Methot
Puck drop is scheduled for just after 7:30 PM.
The Daily Chirp- The Ottawa Senators have certainly made some calls about adding a defenceman, as Elliotte Friedman points out in his column this week, and as I’ve mentioned on the site a couple times in the last two weeks. What Friedman left out however is that dreaded “B” word. The Senators are currently over budget so any move would have to see money going out the door and not just coming in. Shouldn’t come as any surprise really as that’s the reality of the current financial situation in Ottawa. And based on all the empty seats I’ve seen at the CTC lately, it’s not going to change any time soon.
