GAME DAY: Preseason - Boston @ Ottawa - 7:00pm ET - Fri. Sep. 25th, 2009--PLUS afterthoughts...

GAME DAY: Preseason - Boston @ Ottawa - 7:00pm ET - Fri. Sep. 25th, 2009

The Sens play their last pre-season game tonight as they host the Boston Bruins at SBP. After an 0-3 start, the Sens have cranked out a couple of nice wins in a row as the team begins to find itself and the new comers get more comfortable. Regin, Michalek and Karlsson have all really impressed so far and Fisher seems to be feeding off of Regin's play by finding the back of the net. Hopefully this is a sign of some good chemistry forming.

Game coverage:
- TV: TSN2 (HD),NHLN-US (HD)
- Radio: Team 1200
- Web: http://www.atdhe.net/

Tonight's Lines:

Michalek - Spezza - Alfredsson
Kovalev - Regin - Fisher
Foligno - Shannon - Cheechoo
Schubert - Kelly - Neil

Phillips - Volchenkov
Campoli - Carkner
Lee - Karlsson

#73 (Ruutu), #47 (Z. Smith), #10 (Donovan) and #45 (Picard) are out tonight

TSN's Ice Chips:

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

Ottawa Updates:

Filip Kuba and Jesse Winchester (knee) did not skate with the team at practice on Thursday. Kuba is doubtful for Friday's game. Pascal Leclaire is expected to play the full 60 minutes. - TSN

Practice Lines (Thursday)

Forwards:
Michalek - Spezza - Alfredsson
Fisher - Regin - Kovalev
Cheechoo - Shannon - Foligno
Ruutu - Kelly - Neil
Schubert - Smith - Donovan

Defencemen (rotated):
Phillips - Volchenkov - Karlsson
Picard - Campoli - Carkner - Lee

Goaltenders:
Leclaire
Elliott

Boston Updates:

Coach Claude Julien said it's a long shot that David Krejci will suit up for Saturday's pre-season finale against the Columbus Blue Jackets at TD Garden. Krejci has been recovering from off-season hip surgery. Zdeno Chara and Steve Begin, both slowed by groin issues, did not play Thursday night. Julien says he is expecting Chara to play Friday night against the Senators, while Begin is a little further away from returning. - Boston


Ottawa Citizen Quick Hits:

Source: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/sports/hockey/ottawa-senators/last+chance+impress+young+Senators/2031051/story.html

Goaltender Pascal Leclaire is expected to play the full 60 minutes tonight against Boston. ... Defenceman Filip Kuba missed practice Thursday for "precautionary reasons," according to Clouston, and isn't expected to play against the Bruins. The coach said he expects Kuba back for practice on Monday. ... The Senators will have Saturday and Sunday off from practice for a team-bonding exercise. When the club returns to the ice, the it will announce its alternate captains. ... Speaking of captains, Daniel Alfredsson is now the longest-serving current captain in the NHL. ... Goaltender Mike Brodeur cleared waivers Thursday and has joined Binghamton. ... Alex Kovalev says he can "stay in the 30s" when asked about how many goals he could score this season. "About 40 times I hit the post last year. Otherwise, I would have scored 50 goals," he said.

GO SENS GO!!

Sounds like no Chara for the game tonight. Thanks Shabbs for the GDT. Very nice work as usual.

looks like Zack Smith is definitely on the bubble, if he doesn't put in any or quality minutes tonight, he will be returning to Bingo. Lee has to be another one on the bubble.

The prospect of seeing a kid graduate to the big club is exciting but if Smith isn't ready now, no big deal. He will be next year.

Kuba is indeed out for today's game.

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/sports/hockey/ottawa-senators/Leclaire+Kuba+Sens+final+preseason+game/2028483/story.html

Not surprised. Any minor issue will keep them out for precautionary reasons when it's the pre-season. We still get to see Regin start the year here most likely and very likely Karlsson so there's two rookies we can get excited about.

On paper those first three lines are pretty nice, three solid scoring lines.

I hope Carkner makes the team.

TeamRenzo wrote:On paper those first three lines are pretty nice, three solid scoring lines.

I hope Carkner makes the team.

Ditto. Carkner is the logical successor to Jason Smith and might even be more effective than Smith turned out to be.

Note: Boston's coming off a 2-1 OT win over the Habs last night.

SeawaySensFan wrote:

TeamRenzo wrote:On paper those first three lines are pretty nice, three solid scoring lines.

I hope Carkner makes the team.

Ditto. Carkner is the logical successor to Jason Smith and might even be more effective than Smith turned out to be.

seems to be tougher than Smith, but then again I never seen Gator much in his earlier years.

SensFan71 wrote:

SeawaySensFan wrote:

TeamRenzo wrote:On paper those first three lines are pretty nice, three solid scoring lines.

I hope Carkner makes the team.

Ditto. Carkner is the logical successor to Jason Smith and might even be more effective than Smith turned out to be.

seems to be tougher than Smith, but then again I never seen Gator much in his earlier years.

Tough. As. Nails.

I think it's fair to say that Carkner today could be more effective, in terms of toughness, than Jason Smith was last season.

SensFan71 wrote:looks like Zack Smith is definitely on the bubble, if he doesn't put in any or quality minutes tonight, he will be returning to Bingo. Lee has to be another one on the bubble.

Has Lee played yet this pre-season? Don't remember seeing him (I think that if he played and went unnoticed, it's actually worse than not having played - in his case)

TheAvatar wrote:

SensFan71 wrote:looks like Zack Smith is definitely on the bubble, if he doesn't put in any or quality minutes tonight, he will be returning to Bingo. Lee has to be another one on the bubble.

Has Lee played yet this pre-season? Don't remember seeing him (I think that if he played and went unnoticed, it's actually worse than not having played - in his case)

uncertain if he has played either, from the GDT, he is pencilled in as the extra D. if he doesn't make an impression tonight (if he plays), it's down to Bingo for you Lee.

Man, that's gotta suck for him; I find it hard to believe that he's not expecting the hammer to fall though.