The Ottawa Senators begin their three game West Coast swing with a stop in Calgary tonight. They are in Edmonton on Thursday and visit Vancouver on Sunday.
Ottawa is coming off a slump busting 5-2 win in Toronto on Saturday night while the Flames snapped a two game losing streak with a 4-3 win over the Colorado Avalanche.
It has been an up and down start for the Flames who come into this one with a 7-8-1 record on overall which includes a disappointing 3-4-1 record on home ice. Alex Tanguay leads the Flames with 12 points while Captain Jarome Iginla is off to a slow start with just 9 points and is a team worst -8 through the first 16 games.
The Flames have scored just 35 goals this season, which ranks them 29th in the NHL ahead of only the New York Islanders. Yet they have managed to hover around .500 thanks to the solid goaltending of Mikka Kiprusoff (2.31 GAA, .923 SV%). He gets the start for Calgary tonight.
No changes are expected to an Ottawa line up that beat the Leafs on Saturday. Chris Neil will miss a third straight game with a high ankle sprain and has been placed in injured reserve. Meanwhile, Matt Carkner- who has yet to play a game this season- appears to be getting closer to a return. He skated with the team yesterday.
David Rundblad is a healthy scratch.
Greening-Spezza-Michalek
Foligno-DaCosta-Alfredsson
Daugavins-Smith-Condra
Konopka-Winchester-Butler
Kuba-Karlsson
Phillips-Gonchar
Cowen-Lee
Thanks to Ian Mendes for this little tidbit. The last time the Sens won a game in Calgary was way back in 2003. Wade Redden scored the lone goal in a 1-0 Sens win. Long overdue for another W in Cowtown.
A reminder, puck drops just after 9:00 PM tonight so be sure to make time for a pre game nap. The game is available on Sportsnet or on The Team 1200. If you are hoping to tune in online, keep an eye on the comment section for a stream.
- Nothing new on the Brassard story I talked about on Sunday. This morning, Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun has also suggested the Sens may be interested in the Jackets centre. Should be interesting to see if any updates come out of the GM meetings.
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For those of you that are not aware, the voting for the NHL All Star Game here in Ottawa opened this morning and so too did the VoteAlfie Campaign. Click here and vote for Daniel Alfredsson, Jason Spezza, Milan Michalek, Sergei Gonchar and Erik Karlsson. You can vote up to 30 times per account online, on your mobile device and through text message. This is OUR All Star Game and we want to make sure the Sens are well represented.
