On the heels of one of their better performances of the season in Columbus, the Ottawa Senators return home to play host to their first round opponents from last year’s playoffs.
While the Battle of Ontario has died off a little bit the past few seasons, the rivalry between these two teams is alive and well after the Senators handled the Canadiens with ease in last year’s playoffs. On the ice, there is certainly a hatred building between the two teams and off the ice, the fan bases have never really got along. And we know the two coaches don’t rispek each other one bit.
Based on some of the crowds we’ve seen at the Canadian Tire Centre so far this season, I’m a little nervous to see what tonight’s crowd will look like. There’s no doubt this game is going to be a sellout but it’s the Sens fan/Habs fan split that might be an issue. On a good night Montreal fans fill nearly half the seats. Safe to say it could be more than 50% Habs fans in this one.
Score early and take the crowd out of it, I guess.
After Tuesday night’s win, Paul MacLean is expected to go with the same line up that had success in Columbus. That would mean Patrick Wiercioch and Joe Corvo are healthy scratches on the back end while Erik Condra misses another game up front. Here is how the Senators are expected to line up;
Greening-Spezza-Zibanejad
MacArthur-Turris-Ryan
Michalek-Smith-Neil
Kassian-Grant-Conacher
Cowen-Karlsson
Phillips-Gryba
Borowiecki-Methot
Puck drop is scheduled for just after 7:00 PM.
The Daily Chirp- Last week there were rumours that the Ottawa Senators and Florida Panthers were talking trade. Don’t know all the details and not really sure how serious those talks were but apparently one player the Sens like is Erik Gudbranson. Panthers may have asked about Craig Anderson. I assume that’s where the conversation ended. The good news is Mark Borowiecki has looked good on the blueline and maybe lessened the need to add a defenceman a little bit.
