Another day of practice for the Ottawa Senators as they prepare for a massive game on Saturday night against the Montreal Canadiens. A quick glance at the forward combinations put together by Head Coach Paul MacLean shows what looks like some of the strongest combinations the Sens have put together all season. With Clarke MacArthur back, Matt Kassian comes out of the line up, allowing the team to put together four pretty strong lines.
The next challenge will be distributing the ice time accordingly. We know MacLean loves that Greening-Smith-Neil line but they really seem like they would be more effective if used as a fourth line. Which would also mean more even strength ice time for what looks like a lethal top six. The margin for error is so small right now that Ottawa needs to be using their best players as much as possible. Hopefully MacLean sees it that way.
It looks like the defence will remain unchanged as Cody Ceci was on the ice and taking part in drills at today’s practice. That seems to indicate that Patrick Wiercioch will spend another game in the pressbox. Here’s how the Sens lined up today.
Michalek-Spezza-Hemsky
MacArthur-Turris-Ryan
Hoffman-Zibanejad-Condra
Greening-Smith-Neil
Methot-Karlsson
Phillips-Ceci
Cowen-Gryba
