In a week that is being described as “Rivalry Week” by the Sens organization, Ottawa gets set to play three straight against division rivals.
First up, a train ride to La Belle Province for a stop in Montreal tomorrow night. The Sens then return to Ottawa for a rare back to back weekend games against the Habs on Friday and then a St. Patrick’s Day showdown with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
In a year where the Sens were projected to be a basement team and the Habs and Leafs considered playoff contenders, Ottawa has completely flipped the script. Both the Habs and Leafs fan bases were sure to rub it in when the Sens struggled last year so this week is a chance for Sens fans to return the favour. The Leafs sit in twelfth, the Habs are last in the East, with the playoffs likely out of reach for both.
I know it’s not in the nature of our usually polite fan base, but be sure to rub it in a little bit this week. The rebuilding Senators are in a playoff position while both the Habs and Leafs are a mess. Something tells me if the roles were reversed, they would let us hear it.
The Senators were on the ice for practice this morning and were briefly joined by the rapidly recovering Craig Anderson. He took shots before the practice and then stuck around to take some shots from the rest of the team.
Obviously another step in the right direction for Anderson although there is still no timeline for his return. Paul MacLean indicated that Ben Bishop will start tomorrow night in Montreal.
- An interesting article on HF Boards this morning indicated that Jakob Silfverberg would be interested in returning to Ottawa this season when his year is done in Sweden. Silfverberg suggested that the he has not heard from the organization as of yet but we know that the Sens believe Silfverberg is NHL ready. We’ll have to keep an eye on this story moving forward. Assistant GM Tim Murray has already talked about the possibility of bringing Mika Zibanejad over for a playoff run as well.
- Spoke with a contact this morning who suggested the Sens are one of a number of teams that are looking at NCAA free agent defenceman Andrej Sustr. The 6'8 defender just finished his second season at the University of Nebraska Omaha.
