After a disappointing shootout loss in New Jersey on Thursday night, the Ottawa Senators will try to rebound when they host the surging Vancouver Canucks.
The Canucks have won 8 of their last 10 and finally seem to be finding their groove from last season. Vancouver was last in action on Thursday when they topped the Montreal Canadiens in a shootout.
With Washington and Winnipeg both winning last night, the Sens have slipped into 10th place in the Eastern Conference, still just a single point out of 8th.
This recent stretch of games has shown exactly why Bryan Murray hasn't been in any rush to trade his defensive depth. With Filip Kuba already out for the next month or so, the Sens are now also without Sergei Gonchar who left Thursday's game with an upper body injury. They have taken heat in the past but the reality is both Gonchar and Kuba have played extremely important minutes for the Sens this year. Replacing them will not be easy.
With Gonchar sidelined, Matt Carkner steps into the line up. Carkner will be suiting up for his first game this season and will be paired with rookie David Rundblad.
Peter Regin announced after the skate this morning that he is ready to return to the line up and will play against the Canucks. He will take the place of Zenon Konopka. Here is how the Sens are expected to line up.
Michalek-Spezza-Daugavins
Regin-Foligno-Alfredsson
Condra-Smith-Neil
Greening-Winchester-Butler
Cowen-Karlsson
Phillips-Lee
Rundblad-Carkner
Craig Anderson gets the start in the Ottawa goa. Puck drop is just after 7:00 PM tonight with the game available on CBC's Hockey Night in Canada.
And lastly, thoughts and prayers go out to Binghamton Senators defenceman Patrick Wiercioch after a scary incident in last night's BSens game. He was admitted to the hospital after taking a puck in the neck area. You can see video of the incident here. Updates on his condition have been hard to come by since the incident but the latest suggested that Wiercioch is in stable condition. Wishing Patrick a speedy recovery!
