While the Belleville Senators continue to turn heads in the American Hockey League, the NHL version of the Senators is stumbling towards the finish line.
They’ve dropped four straight, including an ugly home ice loss against the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday night. It doesn’t get any easier for the Sens as they hit the road for a couple in Winnipeg and Colorado.
First up- a desperate Winnipeg Jets team on Hockey Day in Canada.
While the Senators are comfortably nestled at the bottom of the overall standings (29th overall heading into this afternoon), the Jets find themselves in the thick of a playoff race in the Western Conference.
You remember meaningful hockey games, don’t you. Sitting there, sluggin’ a beer and actually hoping your team does well? Gosh it’s been a while.
We now interrupt your regularly scheduled game day post for 19 minutes of highlights of a game between the Winnipeg Jets and the Ottawa Senators from back in 1995. Nikolai Khabibulin v. Don Beaupre.
Sens had no answer for Keith Tkachuk that night. Anyway, where was I?
DJ Smith met with the media yesterday and outlined a couple changes to the line up. Mark Borowiecki stayed behind in Ottawa with his wife Tara expecting the birth of their child any day now. Cody Goloubef takes his spot in the line up while Andreas Englund has been recalled as an insurance policy.
Up front, Vladislav Namestnikov is considered questionable. He took a puck in the face at practice and may sit this one out.
Early start today so no game day skate. A best guess for now.
Tkachuk-Pageau-C.Brown
Namestnikov/Chlapik-Tierney-Duclair
Ennis-White-Batherson
Paul-Anisimov-Boedker/Sabourin
Chabot-DeMelo
Reilly-Zaitsev
Hainsey-Goloubef
No word on a starting goalie yet for the Senators.
Puck drop is scheduled for just after 2:00 PM which means we can get this one out of the way and turn our full attention to the BSens at 7:00 PM.
CBC, Sportsnet and TVA sports all have the broadcast this afternoon.
Here’s a closer look at how these two teams match-up.
| HEAD2HEAD |  |
 |
|---|---|---|
| Record | 18-25-11 (47 pts) | 27-23-5 (59 pts) |
| Goals For | 2.69 (24th) | 2.91 (20th) |
| Goals Against | 3.30 (28th) | 3.04 (T-15th) |
| Power Play | 15.1% (29th) | 18.5% (22nd) |
| Penalty Kill | 80.1% (17th) | 74.3% (29th) |
| Shots For | 29.9 (24th) | 30.7 (21st) |
| Shots Against | 33.5 (29th) | 33.1 (28th) |
| Leading Scorers | Duclair- 34 pts Brown- 34 pts Pageau- 33 pts |
Scheifele- 57 pts Connor- 52 pts Laine- 48 pts |
| Starting Goalie | Craig Anderson | Laurent Brossoit 4-7-0 3.59 GAA, .885 sv% |
