(UPDATE 3:09 PM)- In speaking with the media this morning, Guy Boucher talked a lot about depth in the line up. This afternoon, Pierre Dorion made a move to address that issue. The Senators have acquired forward Tommy Wingels from the San Jose Sharks in exchange for Buddy Robinson, Zack Stortini and a 7th round pick. The Sharks also retain 30% of Wingels’ salary as part of the trade. Wingels is a solid player though that should give the Senators a little more depth in their bottom six.
If you haven’t been paying attention to the NHL outside of Ottawa the last little while, you should know that tonight’s opponent, the Washington Capitals, is on a wee bit of a rampage.
In the last eight games they’ve played since Ottawa held them to one goal back on January 7th, They’ve scored an incredible 44 goals in their last 8 games. More than 5.5 goals a game. They have picked up at least a point in 14 straight games and have an incredible +54 goal differential and they are coming off a convincing 6-1 win over the Carolina Hurricanes last night.
This is the best team in the National Hockey League. Which perhaps is good news for the Ottawa Senators. During what seemed like a daunting stretch of games this month, the Senators have played some of their best hockey when facing the top teams in the league.
And in their two games against Washington this month, they gave the Capitals a pretty good run. Both were one goal games with the Senators managing to hold the explosive Washington offence to a total of three goals in two games.
The Senators are on the ice for their morning skate and it looks like they’ll go with the same line up they used on the weekend.
That means another game on the sidelines for Mark Borowiecki. He wasn’t on the ice for the morning skate and is now missing a fourth straight game with the flu. Casey Bailey has also been recalled with Mike Hoffman battling the flu as well. Hoffman is considered a game time decision. A best guess at the line up for this one.
Smith-Brassard-Stone
Dzingel-Turris-Ryan
Hoffman-Pageau-Pyatt
Kelly-Lazar-Neil
Methot-Karlsson
Phaneuf-Ceci
Claesson-Wideman
Mike Condon gets another start in the Ottawa goal. Puck drop is scheduled for just after 7:30 PM.
