Just 24 hours after taking on the defending Stanley Cup Champions, the Senators are right back at it against another strong team from the Western Conference.
The St. Louis Blues have been among the top teams in the West for most of the season, putting up an impressive 23-14-4 record. That has them sitting fourth in the conference despite just a +1 goal differential. The Blues sit 20th in goals for and 18th in goal against but have sort of been finding ways to win hockey games through the first half of the season. A lot of that has to with their special teams including a 6th ranked power play and the second best penalty kill in the league.
On Ottawa’s side of things, a strong start has quickly turned into a prolonged slump that has seen the Sens slide into 11th in the conference, although still just two points back of the Bruins for the second wild card position.
The Senators actually put together a pretty good sixty minute effort in Chicago last night. While they didn’t create a ton of offence, they were much cleaner in their own end of the rink and did a pretty good job against a talented Blackhawks team. The challenge now is to combine that strong defensive play with a little more creativity at the other end. That means skating pucks in rather than just chipping it deep and taking a chance or two when the situation allows for it.
Safe, defensive hockey is one thing but the Senators have a lot of talent in this line up and certainly shouldn’t be stifling it completely.
Just an optional morning skate for the Sens this morning so the line combination will remain a mystery until puck drop. Cameron was clearly unhappy with the play of his second line last night so you would expect that he changes that trio ahead of this one. What we do know is the same players will dress tonight. That means another game in the press box for Jared Cowen and Dave Dziurzynski.
In speaking to the media this afternoon, Cameron indicated that the lines will be shuffled and that he asked his Assistant Coaches to bring some suggestions and they’ll pick the new combinations prior to puck drop. In case Cameron also comes to SensChirp for inspiration, here’s how I’d line them up tonight.
Hoffman-Turris-Ryan
Prince-Zibanejad-Stone
McCormick-Pageau-Lazar
Chiasson-Smith-Neil
Claesson-Karlsson
Methot-Wideman
Wiercioch-Borowiecki
Andrew Hammond gets the start in the Ottawa goal. Puck drop is scheduled for just after 8:00 PM.
