After posting a .500 record on their four game homestand, the Ottawa Senators now hit the road for the next two games. In fact, six of their next seven will be away from the Canadian Tire Centre.
Up first- the New Jersey Devils.
While the Senators continue to hold down second place in the Atlantic Division, the number of teams in pursuit seems to be growing by the day. The Bruins are tied, the Leafs are one point back, the Panthers are now just four points back and then Buffalo and Tampa Bay are back there too.
Ottawa still has one or more games in hand on every team in the division, making it that much more important that they continue to bank points. We’ll have a pretty good idea of where the Sens stand a week from now as they’ll play four games in the next six nights. Two of the six are against these Devils.
Jersey got off to a decent start to the season but have sort of fallen off the pace in the Eastern Conference. Their 24-22-10 record has them sitting five points out of a playoff spot and they’re teetering on the edge of “seller” territory leading up to the deadline. They’re 29th in goals for (only Colorado scores less) and 17th in goals against.
Guy Boucher met with the media following the morning skate and indicated that both Curtis Lazar and Chris Wideman will play tonight. Marc Methot is sick and won’t play while Chris Neil is a healthy scratch.
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Mike Condon gets the start for Ottawa. Puck drop is scheduled for just after 7:00 PM.
-Curtis Lazar’s future with the organization is likely to be decided this weekend. JP Barry and Pierre Dorion are expected to sit down on Saturday and as we’ve heard, it’s possible Lazar could ask for a trade. Based on the way his season has gone to this point, don’t expect the Dorion to try and talk him out of it either. There won’t be a huge market for Lazar at this point but according to Darren Dreger, there are some Western Conference teams showing interest. Arizona and Vancouver seem to make sense. Edmonton has shown interest in the past.
-Yesterday, Senators Owner Eugene Melnyk announced the details of The Organ Project, which will work with the federal and provincial governments and organ transplantation agencies to make traditional registration easier, efficient and more accessible. Click here to learn more about how you can get involved. And as we’ve all come to expect when Melnyk gets in front of a microphone, there were also some interesting sound bites about the team’s approach leading up to the trade deadline, about ticket sales, on branding and about the latest on the outdoor game. You can catch his brief Q&A with the media here and then his appearance on TSN1200 here.
