With the race for the final playoff spots heating up, the Ottawa Senators head to Montreal for a crucial game against the Canadiens.
It figures to a be a huge night with all the teams in the thick of the Eastern Conference playoff race are in action- the Sabres take on the Rangers, the Panthers play host to the Oilers and the eighth place Washington Capital host the tenth place Winnipeg Jets.
The Sens have seen plenty of the Habs the last little with the two teams playing their third game in nine nights. Montreal took a 3-2 shootout decision last Wednesday and the Sens responded with an overtime win a week ago tonight. Ottawa was the better team in both those games but have to do a better job of burying their chances against the always stingy Carey Price.
While goaltending has not been the problem as of late, the Sens should get a boost from the return of Craig Anderson. Andy has missed a little over four weeks of action after suffering a severe cut to his blocker hand.
Ben Bishop will dress as his back up while Auld watches on from the press box.
After missing the Tuesday’s tilt with the Devils, Jason Spezza will draw back in for the Sens. Spezza has been battling a flu the past couple days and according to Chris Stevenson, he has dropped 10 pounds over the past few days. A healthy Jason Spezza is a must for the Senators down the stretch.
Alfredsson and Karlsson both missed the morning skate but will play tonight. Here is how Ottawa is expected to line up.
Greening-Spezza-Michalek
Klinkhammer-Turris-Alfredsson
Foligno-O'Brien-Neil
Konopka-Smith-Condra
Kuba-Karlsson
Cowen-Gonchar
Phillips-Gilroy
Puck drop is scheduled for just after 7:30 PM tonight but because it’s at the Bell Centre it’s safe to say there will be some sort of obscure ceremony prior to puck drop. The game is available on Sportsnet and RDS and as always, keep an eye on the comment section for any streams that become available.
GO SENS GO!
- Plenty of talk about Jakob Silfverberg and Mika Zibanejad and the possibility of brining them over for a potential playoff run. One contact I spoke with said that while they would like to bring those two over to practice and experience playoff time in the NHL, they are in no hurry to get them in the line up.
