GAME DAY: Carolina Hurricanes @ Ottawa Senators - 7:00pm ET - Sat. Dec. 12th, 2009

The Ottawa Senators (15-11-4, 34 points, 3rd in the Northeast) return home to host the struggling and wounded Carolina Hurricanes (7-18-6, 20 points, last in the Southeast) on Saturday night. The Sens are coming off a win on the road in Philly that saw Elliott earn a 2-0 shutout. He was stellar in the game coming up with some huge timely saves, he is certainly coming into his own. Spezza and Kovalev continue to struggle while others are stepping up in their place. Carolina is having a horrible season and find themselves in last place overall. By no means can the Sens take this team lightly... they need to come out strong and maintain pressure. The 'Canes will be playing their 2nd game in as many nights. Look for Elliott to get the start in nets again and for Legace to start for the 'Canes as Ward was in net Friday night. The 'Canes lost in OT to the Caps on Friday night.

Game Coverage:
- TV: CBC, FS-CR
- Radio: Team 1200
- Web: cbcsports.ca and check http://www.atdhe.net and http://www.justin.tv

Latest Updates:
- Clouston: Picard comes back in. Replaces Campoli. Elliott starts in goal.

Team Lineups:
Ottawa Senators: http://www.dailyfaceoff.com/team-lineups/ottawa-senators-team-lineup
Carolina Hurricanes: http://www.dailyfaceoff.com/team-lineups/carolina-hurricanes-team-lineup

TSN's Ice Chips:

Source: http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/feature/?id=11009

Ottawa Senators:

Projected lines vs the Hurricanes:

Forwards:
Michalek-Spezza-Alfredsson
Foligno-Fisher-Kovalev
Ruutu-Kelly-Cheechoo
Regin-Winchester-Shannon

Defencemen:
Phillips - Volchenkov
Kuba - Karlsson
Picard - Carkner

Goaltenders:
Elliott
Brodeur

Healthy scratch:
- Campoli

Injuries:
- Donovan (knee, on IR, out indefinitely)
- Leclaire (broken jaw, expected to miss 4 weeks)
- Neil (knee, out indefinitely)


Carolina Hurricanes:

Forwards Patrick Dwyer and Jiri Tlusty were recalled from Albany of the American Hockey League on Friday. - Team Release

The Hurricanes placed forwards Erik Cole and Chad LaRose on injured reserve Friday and called up two players from the minor leagues. Cole is expected to miss up to three weeks because of an upper-body injury, and LaRose could be out up to four weeks with a lower-body injury. - The Canadian Press

Projected lines vs the Sens:

Forwards:
Whitney - Staal - Dwyer
Jokinen - Cullen - Ruutu
Tlusty - Sutter - Kostopolous
Brind'Amour - Yelle - Walker

Defencemen:
Pitkanen - Gleason
Alberts - Ward
Harrison - Carson

Goaltenders:
Legace
Ward

Injuries:
- Casey Borer (broken neck, on IR, out indefinitely)
- Michael Ryan (concussion, on IR)
- Joe Corvo (lower right leg surgery, on IR, out 2-3 months)
- Chad LaRose (lower body, to miss 3-4 weeks)
- Erik Cole (upper body, to miss 2-3 weeks)
- Niclas Walin (upper body, to miss Friday's game vs Washington)

Game Day Previews:

OttawaSenators.com Game Day Preview:

Source: http://senators.nhl.com/club/preview.htm?id=2009020467

NHL.com Game Day Preview:

Source: http://www.nhl.com/ice/preview.htm?id=2009020467

Sportsnet.ca Game Day Preview:

Source: http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/scores/20091212/Car@Ott/story

ESPN Game Day Preview:

Source: http://scores.espn.go.com/nhl/preview?gameId=291212014

ESPN Stats Comparison:



Media Links:
- Clouston post-practice presser from Saturday: http://senators.nhl.com/v2/ext/Audio/091212_Clouston.mp3
- Clouston post-practice presser from Friday: http://bit.ly/8ZJpi7
- Post game audio from Clouston from Thursday night: http://bit.ly/5mdpJb
- SensTV On-line: http://senators.nhl.tv/team/console.jsp
- Official Twitter of the Ottawa Senators: http://twitter.com/NHL_Sens

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Follow GMHockey on Twitter: http://twitter.com/gmhockey

GO SENS GO!!!

Wait, we have 5 SHGs now? Who? Or was Winch's empty-netter scored on the PK?

Seriously, do you see any reason we could have for *not* winning this one in a big way? No Sens-killer Corvo, no Staal.

On the other hand, we've lost to the Marlies a few times last season, and they still have Ward in goal.

Man, I'd hate to lose this one, there is no way we *should* lose this one, but I've seen a lot of weird stuff happen over the last few weeks where the Sens are concerned.

By the way, did we all miss wishing Alfie a happy birthday?

Happy Belated Birthday, Alfie!!!!!!

wprager wrote:Seriously, do you see any reason we could have for *not* winning this one in a big way? No Sens-killer Corvo, no Staal.

On the other hand, we've lost to the Marlies a few times last season, and they still have Ward in goal.

Man, I'd hate to lose this one, there is no way we *should* lose this one, but I've seen a lot of weird stuff happen over the last few weeks where the Sens are concerned.

Staal has been back for about a week now. And Ward just returned last night (tho' I doubt they'll play him back-to-back right away). But I agree, this is a should-win game for OTT. Still, CAR has been battling hard lately -- they brought WSH to OT last night -- and scoring goals has never really been a problem for them.

wprager wrote:Wait, we have 5 SHGs now? Who? Or was Winch's empty-netter scored on the PK?

Yeah, they were on the PK with their goalie pulled. Shorthanded empty netter.

wprager wrote:Seriously, do you see any reason we could have for *not* winning this one in a big way? No Sens-killer Corvo, no Staal.

On the other hand, we've lost to the Marlies a few times last season, and they still have Ward in goal.

Man, I'd hate to lose this one, there is no way we *should* lose this one, but I've seen a lot of weird stuff happen over the last few weeks where the Sens are concerned.

Well, they took the Caps to OT last night... the Caps are in 1st place overall in the NHL. So... before you go writing them off... keep that in mind.

Game Notes for tonight (PDF):

http://senators.nhl.com/v2/ext/PDFs/Game%20notes%20Dec%2012.pdf

rooneypoo wrote:

wprager wrote:Seriously, do you see any reason we could have for *not* winning this one in a big way? No Sens-killer Corvo, no Staal.

On the other hand, we've lost to the Marlies a few times last season, and they still have Ward in goal.

Man, I'd hate to lose this one, there is no way we *should* lose this one, but I've seen a lot of weird stuff happen over the last few weeks where the Sens are concerned.

Staal has been back for about a week now. And Ward just returned last night (tho' I doubt they'll play him back-to-back right away). But I agree, this is a should-win game for OTT. Still, CAR has been battling hard lately -- they brought WSH to OT last night -- and scoring goals has never really been a problem for them.

A team with that record can't afford to be prudent. They see Ottawa as 2 points, the same way we see Carolina as two points---easy pickings, relatively speaking. I expect Ward in net tonight.

As per NHL_Sens...

Lines at skate today:

Michalek-Spezza-Alfredsson
Foligno-Fisher-Kovalev
Ruutu-Kelly-Cheechoo
Regin-Winchester-Shannon

Why can we not keep the Michalek-Fisher-Alfie line going.... It was doing well. Diddle you Spezza!

caissie_1 wrote:Why can we not keep the Michalek-Fisher-Alfie line going.... It was doing well. Diddle you Spezza!

Great line, but we were losing hockey games.

caissie_1 wrote:Why can we not keep the Michalek-Fisher-Alfie line going.... It was doing well. Diddle you Spezza!

They asked Clouston about that the other day on Fan 590 and he responded by saying perhaps he didn't give the Spezza-Kovalev line enough of a chance... I dunno... there must be something he doesn't like about that pairing... besides neither of them giving a crap.

Get your TWEET on!

http://twitter.com/GMHockey/status/6601764283

Some good news...

Clouston: Picard comes back in. Replaces Campoli. Elliott starts in goal.

WOOHOO!!!