The Sochi Winter Games are now just over a week away but the Ottawa Senators still have plenty of work to do before heading their separate ways for the Olympic Break.
The Sens kick off a grueling stretch of four games in six nights against the top team in the Eastern Conference in the Pittsburgh Penguins. After the game in Pittsburgh, the Senators travel straight to St. Louis to take on another strong team in the Blues on Tuesday. They close out their pre-Olympic schedule with games at home against the Sabres and then back on the road in Boston.
Anything above four points during this stretch has to be considered a success for the Senators.
The last time these two teams met, the Senators turned in one of their most impressive performances of the season. They beat Crosby and the Penguins 5-0 that night and really seemed to have Sidney Crosby frustrated by the end of the night. Sid was especially upset about this hip check by Marc Methot.
Matt Kassian is expected to come out of the lineup after playing less than two minutes against the Leafs on Saturday night. That means Stephane Da Costa is back in and also means that the Senators forward combinations look much better. Here’s how MacLean lined his guys up at the morning skate.
MacArthur-Turris-Ryan
Michalek-Spezza-Zibanejad
Greening-Smith-Neil
Conacher-Da Costa-Condra
Cowen-Karlsson
Methot-Gryba
Wiercioch-Ceci
Craig Anderson gets the start in the Ottawa goal. The Penguins will go with Marc Andre Fleury. Puck drop is scheduled for just after 7:00 PM with the game available on TSN.
The Daily Chirp- In case you missed this morning’s post, it sure sounds like the Senators were closing in on a deal for Avalanche forward PA Parenteau. During a brief meeting with the media, Bryan Murray mentioned that he had a small deal for a forward that fell through. People I have talked to seem pretty confident that deal was for Parenteau. I don’t think the deal is dead altogether though. You can read more on the rumour here.
