Elliott to start tonight, A-Train back

RALEIGH, N.C. — The Senators are going back to the hot hand.

After giving Alex Auld a chance to start Sunday in New York, Brian Elliott will be back between the pipes tonight at the RBC Center against the Carolina Hurricanes.
Elliott has won eight straight as the Senators strive to stay alive in the Eastern Conference playoff race.

Defenceman Anton Volchenkov, who missed Sunday's 2-1 victory over the Rangers, is expected to play tonight. He was on the ice this morning.

Carolina coach Paul Maurice has been impressed with the improvements the Senators have made down the stretch.

"This is a team with a bunch of high end guys that's playing without the pressure of one mistake. This is a team that has a tremendous amount of talent," said Maurice.

The Hurricanes, who are unbeaten in four straight, will start Cam Ward in net.
From the Ottawa Sun

GO SENS!!! Hopefully we can snap their 4 game winning streak...please!

Cool.

Didn't Auld make 1000 saves the last time he faced the Hurricanes though?

Meh...they want to see what Elliott is made of, now's the time.

I don't know. I can't recall. Elliott will hopefully continue to be strong and give us a chance to put this one away. He's had some shaky starts lately, even though he's pulled wins out.

I think the shaky starts may have coincided with Smith, and then A-Train getting injured. Oh, and throw in some bad penalty kills the first fwe games after Vermette was traded.

Oh, I read it, but it didn't register. I think I knew A-Train was back today, but confirmation is good. We need him badly tonight. A lot of snipers on Carolina to keep an eye on.

wprager wrote:I think the shaky starts may have coincided with Smith, and then A-Train getting injured. Oh, and throw in some bad penalty kills the first fwe games after Vermette was traded.

Exactly. Plus he's still a young, young player. Rookies will have these stretches - so will sophomores, just hopefully not as bad and so on. He'll be fine I'm sure.

I'd like him to know what it's like to get a s-word. Just once, before he gets old and retires.

Elliott will be just fine. He's building up his confidence, and although he has surrendered the occasional softy, he comes up big when he has to so that can, at times, negate the softy occasionally.

Personally, the idea of healthy LeClair and eager Elliott tandem has me anxious for next season to start!

Volchenkov back on the back end will be a welcomed boost.

Elliott's record is pretty silly for a guy that came into the season late. 15-4-3, hopefully he can keep up that trend and we'll have a wicked strong tandem next year.

Oh yeah, and Murray didn't lie when he said he'd like to bring him up this year to play 30 games.

I personally didn't think that it was going to happen.

Leclaire and Auld are the only 2 goalies signed for next season.
Elliott is a RFA.

^ I'm pretty sure that will be taken care of in the off season. I'm not in the least worried.

Auld will probably be packaged up with a prospect to move up in the draft.

SensGirl11 wrote:Elliott's record is pretty silly for a guy that came into the season late. 15-4-3, hopefully he can keep up that trend and we'll have a wicked strong tandem next year.

It could be a wicked good tandem, if both goalies are comfortable with their roles as starter and backup.

If they are not, then here we go again with Hasek/Emery, Emery/Gerber, Gerber / Auld

beedub wrote:

SensGirl11 wrote:Elliott's record is pretty silly for a guy that came into the season late. 15-4-3, hopefully he can keep up that trend and we'll have a wicked strong tandem next year.

It could be a wicked good tandem, if both goalies are comfortable with their roles as starter and backup.

If they are not, then here we go again with Hasek/Emery, Emery/Gerber, Gerber / Auld

That was our best tandem. Only problem is, it was Ray's first appearance in the NHL playoffs, and we couldn't for the life of us score on Miller. The famous "Post" Season.