After hanging on for a win against the league’s worst team in the Colorado Avalanche. the Senators continue their three game homestand against the surprising Columbus Blue Jackets.
Ottawa did just about everything right on Thursday night against the Avs but had a heck of a time making the most of their chances. While it was a solid performance in a lot of ways, they’ll need to find another gear against a team like Columbus.
The Blue Jackets got the attention of the league with an incredible 16 game winning streak but it still seemed like it was only a matter of time before the bottom started to fall out for this young team seemingly playing above their heads. Well it ain’t happening. Columbus comes into this one with a 6-3-1 record in their last ten and are an impressive 40-16-6 on the season. They sit second in the ridiculously competitive Metropolitan Division but they find themselves in a battle for positioning with the Penguins and Rangers,
It’s sort of an awkward race of sorts because while no team from that Division would admit it, the possibility of finishing in the Wild Card spot and crossing over to the Atlantic Division is probably pretty enticing.
On the Ottawa side of things, they continue to adjust to their newly discovered depth. For the first time all season, Boucher was able to roll four lines the other night against Colorado and it really helped keep the top half of the line up fresh throughout the game. That will certainly come in handy against a deep team like the Blue Jackets.
Boucher has his team on the ice for the morning skate and it looks like he’ll make one small change from the line update he used Thursday night. Burrows and Hoffman clicked for a couple goals despite not actually playing on the same line so they’ll start together tonight.
Here’s how the Senators are expected to line up for this one.
Burrows-Turris-Hoffman
Smith-Brassard-Stone
Dzingel-Pageau-Pyatt
Stalberg-Kelly-Wingels
Methot-Karlsson
Phaneuf-Ceci
Borowiecki-Wideman
Craig Anderson gets the start in the Ottawa goal. Puck drop is scheduled for just after 7:00 PM.
