After a huge road win last night in Tampa Bay, the Ottawa Senators are right back at it tonight when they take on the Southeast leading Florida Panthers.
The Sens come into tonight’s action with a one point lead over the Panthers but have played four more games. We are going to hear it a lot over the next 23 games but this is another huge two points for the Ottawa Senators.
Under Kevin Dineen, the Panthers remain one of the league’s biggest surprises. They hold a four point lead over the slumping Washington Capital and hold down the third seed in the Eastern Conference. The Panthers have won three straight and six of their last ten and have an impressive 14-5-7 record on home ice.
After picking up his second shutout of the season last night in Tampa, Craig Anderson will be back between the pipes for the Sens tonight.
The league’s busiest goalie will be playing in his fifty-fourth game of the year. No goalie has faced more shots (1585) and made more saves (1441) than Anderson and he will certainly make the bulk of the starts for the Sens down the stretch.
Paul MacLean is expected to go with the same line up as he did against the Lightning. That means that Konopka and Carkner will look on from the press box again. With Butler, O’Brien and Lee all playing well since being inserted into the line up, it’s an easy decision for MacLean to stick with the same combinations.
Here is how the Sens are expected to line up…
Michalek-Spezza-Butler
Greening-Turris-Alfie
Daugavins-Smith-Condra
Foligno-O'Brien-Neil
Kuba-Karlsson
Phillips-Gonchar
Cowen-Lee
Tonight’s game is available on NHL Centre Ice. The feed is going to be pretty awful as they will be using the in-house scoreboard feed synced up with the Panthers radio broadcast which features this guy. Hang on tight, Sens fans.
- Evgeni Malkin is running away with the Hart Trophy this year but Jason Spezza is quietly putting together a season worthy of consideration. Spezza has 25 goals and 60 points which is good enough for 5th in league scoring. Impressive totals considering he has played with wingers like Milan Michalek, Colin Greening and Bobby Butler the majority of the season. Spezza has carried the Sens offence this season while also leading the entire league in faceoffs taken.
- The Rick Nash talk has consumed the NHL over the last 24 hours but it really doesn't sound like the Sens will be serious players. I look to a team like the Los Angeles Kings as the favourite at this point. Should be interesting to watch how it all plays out.
