After an up and down road trip that saw the team pick up just two of a possible six points, ending with an ugly loss in Buffalo on Saturday night, the Ottawa Senators return home looking to get back on track.
Tonight’s opposition- Vladimir Tarasenko and the St. Louis Blues.
The Senators will play their next four games at the Canadian Tire Centre including games against the Stars, Islanders and Sabres. It’s another important stretch for the Sens as they look to take advantage of a rare run of home games.
After this homestand, the Senators play just ten games on home ice the rest of the way.
This St. Louis team will look a little bit different than they did when these teams last met back on January 17th. Ken Hitchcock was fired last week, turning over the Head Coach job to Mike Yeo. The Blues have gone 2-1-0 since the change including a 2-0 win over the Philadelphia Flyers last night. A win is a win but it wasn’t exactly an inspired performance from the Blues as they were held to just 16 shots in the game including one in the 1st period and four in the 3rd.
St. Louis currently holds the second Wild Card spot in the Western Conference.
Guy Boucher has his team on the ice for the morning skate and it looks like he’ll make one change to his fourth line. Chris Neil draws back in while Curtis Lazar returns to the press box. Freddy Claesson is again the odd man out on the blueline.
Here’s how Boucher has his team lined up at the morning skate.
Smith-Brassard-Stone
Dzingel-Turris-Ryan
Hoffman-Pageau-Pyatt
Wingels-Kelly-Neil
Methot-Karlsson
Phaneuf-Ceci
Borowiecki-Wideman
Andrew Hammond is in the starter’s end during the morning skate so it looks like he’ll get the start. Puck drop is scheduled for just after 7:30 PM.
