Game two of the Eastern Conference Semi-final goes tomorrow night in Pittsburgh with the Ottawa Senators looking to grab a split in the Steel City before the scene shifts to Scotiabank Place in Ottawa.
There were rumblings of Jason Spezza making a return in time for that game but Head Coach Paul MacLean all but dismissed that possibility during his media availability on Wednesday, saying that the team’s top centre would not be available for the second game of the series. MacLean suggested that Spezza has significant work to do before returning to the line up.
For what it’s worth, I don’t think MacLean would have said Spezza was going to play either way but it really does sound like Game 3 is a more realistic target.
With the Sens power play looking pretty dreadful on Tuesday night, adding Spezza would certainly be a significant boost. And while there are justified concerns about throwing a guy into the playoff pace after missing so much time, the Senators need goals right now and Spezza makes goals happen.
Seems as though they’ll have to wait until Game 3 at the earliest.
That doesn’t mean Paul MacLean won’t shuffle his line up a little bit ahead of Friday’s game. Eric Gryba is unlikely to play tomorrow which means MacLean may have to go to one of Andre Benoit, Mike Lundin or Mark Borowiecki. Patrick Wiercioch would be the logical next in line but he’s still nursing a lower body injury.
Up front, MacLean has some options. The Senators played pretty well at 5 on 5 so it’s not like a huge overhaul is needed. You’d have to think the Coach will think long and hard about that fourth line and whether or not Matt Kassian is needed at this point in the series.
Latendresse, Regin, O’Brien and maybe Mark Stone deserve consideration. Mike Hoffman has been nursing a collarbone injury and his status for Game 2 is unknown. The Senators are on the ice for practice at 2:00 PM today so we should have a better idea what MacLean has in mind at that point.
How nice is it to still be talking hockey in the middle of May?
What line up changes would you like to see MacLean make ahead of Gm 2? Who replaces Gryba? Any changes up front assuming 19 isn’t available?
— SensChirp (@SensChirp) May 16, 2013
