On the heels of an entertaining win over the defending Stanley Cup Champions, the Ottawa Senators are right back at it against one of the hottest teams in the Eastern Conference.
Busy weekend ahead for the Senators as after tonight, they’ll hit the road for four straight, beginning with a Sunday night tilt with the New York Rangers. That’s a pretty tough back to back so Ottawa will want to make sure they put in a strong effort on home ice.
Tonight’s opposition, John Tavares and the New York Islanders, have won four straight and have picked up at least a point in six games in a row. They are 15-8-4 on the season and currently sit three points clear of Ottawa in the Eastern Conference. A pretty balanced team, the Islanders are 10th in the league in goals for and rank 7th in goals against. They did play last night though, edging the St. Louis Blues 2-1 in a shootout.
Tomas Greiss started for the Isles last night which means the Senators should expect to see Jaroslav Halak.
Couple line up change for Dave Cameron’s team as Dave Dziurzynski makes his season debut. He was called up this morning and will skate on a fourth line with Zack Smith and Chris Neil. Obviously there are some other players you might expect to get the call before Dziurzynski but when you know the call up is only going to play 8-10 minutes maximum, it makes sense to go with more of a role player. Mika Zibanejad is also healthy and will return to his spot centring the second line.
On the blueline, Patrick Wiercioch is a healthy scratch again. Not sure how they’re gonna do it but the Sens need to find a way to get him back in the line up on a more regualar basis. Mark Borowiecki and Jared Cowen are both obvious candidates to sit at some point. Just not tonight.
Here’s how Dave Cameron had his team lined up at the morning skate.
Hoffman-Turris-Ryan
Prince-Zibanejad-Stone
Lazar-Pageau-Chiasson
Dziruzynski-Smith-Neil
Methot-Karlsson
Cowen-Ceci
Borowiecki-Wideman
Craig Anderson makes another start in the Ottawa goal. Puck drop is scheduled for just after 7:00 PM.
