Carolina Hurricanes @ Ottawa Senators - 5:00 PM, Nov.27th, 2011

Carolina comes in with an 8-12-4 record, good for 14th in the Conference.

Ottawa comes in with a 10-10-2 record, good for 12th.

Carolina's top scorer is Jeff Skinner with 21 points in 24 games, a huge disappointment is Eric Staal with his 10 points in 24 games and a disgusting -17. Mind you, with 28 points in 29 games, Staal likes playing Ottawa.

Sens news:

Stephane Da Costa has been sent to Binghamton for some much needed development. He'll immediately take over the top line C position until Locke comes back.

Nikita Filatov has been recalled and will start on line 4, hopefully some PP time as well.

David Rundblad is in, Brian Lee is out - although he was quite good in his stint - and recorded his 1st point, an assist vs the Pens.

Rundblad will be a welcome addition in the puck-moving department and has been practicing on the PP in a big way according to all reports (Sun, Citizen etc.).

Jesse Winchester will get a chance to be the digger on line 2. He'll likely be the guy who goes into the corners with Foligno, hopefully allowing Alfredsson a little less of that grind.

Spezza needs badly to step up in the points department as he hasn't scored in his last 11 games.



Probable Lineup:

Greening - Spezza - Michalek
Foligno - Winchester - Alfredsson
Daugavins - Z.Smith - Condra
Filatov - Konopka - Butler (amusing line )

Phillips - Gonchar
Kuba - Karlsson
Cowen - Rundblad
Lee

Anderson
Auld

PS - Not sure if that's the way the D stacks up.

SpezDispenser wrote:
Probably Lineup:

Greening - Spezza - Michalek
Foligno - Winchester - Alfredsson
Daugavins - Z.Smith - Condra
Filatov - Konopka - Butler (amusing line )

Phillips - Gonchar
Kuba - Karlsson
Cowen - Rundblad
Lee

Anderson
Auld

The top and third line could swap (ice-time wise). Has Filatov ever played center, I wonder? I do remember hearing that he did, but I can't remember where I read that. He's certainly got skill and creativity and speed to burn.

As for the defensive pairings, I'd love to see Cowen/Rundblad -- in about 5 years' time. On the other hand, maybe Phillips would be a good, steadying influence to Gonchar

wprager wrote:

SpezDispenser wrote:
Probably Lineup:

Greening - Spezza - Michalek
Foligno - Winchester - Alfredsson
Daugavins - Z.Smith - Condra
Filatov - Konopka - Butler (amusing line )

Phillips - Gonchar
Kuba - Karlsson
Cowen - Rundblad
Lee

Anderson
Auld

The top and third line could swap (ice-time wise). Has Filatov ever played center, I wonder? I do remember hearing that he did, but I can't remember where I read that. He's certainly got skill and creativity and speed to burn.

As for the defensive pairings, I'd love to see Cowen/Rundblad -- in about 5 years' time. On the other hand, maybe Phillips would be a good, steadying influence to Gonchar

My guess is that Spezza will take a few shifts at centre with Filatov & Butler. Double-shift him to get him, those two, and the team going a bit.

Good call, I could totally see that happening. Not to mention Spezza's in a bit of a slump too.

you can pretty much guaranteed they will be trading for a 2nd line Centre soon

Big Ev wrote:you can pretty much guaranteed they will be trading for a 2nd line Centre soon

Why wait this long to do it? Why not just wait until Regin comes back at this point?

SpezDispenser wrote:

Big Ev wrote:you can pretty much guaranteed they will be trading for a 2nd line Centre soon

Why wait this long to do it? Why not just wait until Regin comes back at this point?

key words I used was 2nd line centre

but that may be the case and you may be right

at this point, just tough it out till Regin's back. P-Mac loves him. But if he gets injured soon after his return, I would agree that we see a trade happen, stat.

Filatov will play in the Top 6 tonight (of course he could be dropped once it starts)

Big Ev wrote:Filatov will play in the Top 6 tonight (of course he could be dropped once it starts)

Isn't this his 4th game in 4 nights? I hope ppl don't jump down his throat today if he doesn't perform well or doesn't receive much ice-time. I do like the idea of double-shifting spezza here and there.

Filatov-Spezza-Greening
Michalek-Foligno-Alfredsson
Daugavins-Smith-Condra
Winchester-Konopka-Butler

Big Ev wrote:Filatov will play in the Top 6 tonight (of course he could be dropped once it starts)

If that's the case, they must be shifting Foligno to 2nd line centre. Unless Filatov can play centre, I suppose...

Lines posted in my previous post

rooneypoo wrote:

Big Ev wrote:Filatov will play in the Top 6 tonight (of course he could be dropped once it starts)

If that's the case, they must be shifting Foligno to 2nd line centre. Unless Filatov can play centre, I suppose...

mendes mentioned they may try filatov as a center on the 2nd line so its possible

EDIT: scratch that, I read wrong. FOligno will be center but filly and michalek may swap

I saw Konopka and Filatov leaving for the game. I was at the Holiday Inn for a wedding. Filatov looks nervous.