The win in Chicago on Tuesday night was certainly one of the most impressive of the season for the Ottawa Senators.
The United Center is one of the toughest buildings in the league and the Senators went in there, outplayed the Hawks for sixty minutes, and came away with a hard-fought two points. It was their third straight win and fourth straight game picking up at least a point. Their last regulation loss came at the end of that tough West Coast road trip at the hands of the Anaheim Ducks.
They’ll host those same Ducks tonight at the Canadian Tire Centre.
As Ottawa found out the hard way, this Ducks team can be pretty dangerous when they get rolling although they’ve been pretty inconsistent since that convincing Sunday win over the Senators. The Ducks have alternated wins and losses since then, with their last game resulting in an ugly 5-1 loss at the hands of the Montreal Canadiens.
They remain a middle of the pack team in most categories but their power play is one of the most dangerous in the National Hockey League. They sit second overall, trailing only the Columbus Blue Jackets, scoring on 24.3% of their chances with the man advantage.
Staying out of the box is always important but especially against this Ducks team.
No surprises on Ottawa’s side of things as they are expected they’ll roll with the same line up and combinations as the other night in Chicago. That means Mike Hoffman will again start on the third line with Jean Gabriel Pageau and Tom Pyatt. That line actually created a couple decent chances the other night making them worth another look. Mark Stone wasn’t on the ice for the morning skate and is being called a game time decision.
Here’s how the Senators will line up for this one.
Smith-Brassard-Stone
Dzingel-Turris-Ryan
Hoffman-Pageau-Pyatt
Kelly-Lazar-Neil
Methot-Karlsson
Phaneuf-Ceci
Borowiecki-Wideman
Mike Condon gets another start in the Ottawa goal. Matt O’Connor will again dress as the back up. Puck drop is scheduled for just after 7:30 PM.
-Some news from the Team USA World Junior Camp this morning as it was announced that 2016 first round pick Logan Brown was one of the final two cuts ahead of the tournament which starts next week. Brown has been dealing with a wrist injury for most of the first half and his status leading up to the Camp was sort of up in the air. He was able to participate in the camp and pre-tournament games but obviously didn’t go enough to stick around. A tweet from Bob Mckenzie suggested that Brown was “rusty and lacked pace”. Maybe not all that surprising when you consider that Brown has only played in 15 games with Windsor this year. Will be important for him to get healthy in the second half and salvage what has been a bit of a disappointing year to this point.
-Last night, we learned that 2015 second round pick Filip Chlapik has signed an entry level contract with the organization and the Senators made that official this morning. It’s a nice reward for Chlapik who has had a terrific first half of the season with the Charlottetown Islanders in the QMJHL. He has 20 goals and 44 points through the first 26 games of the season and has been one of the more impressive prospects in Ottawa’s system this season. Chlapik will also represent the Czech Republic at the World Juniors.
