GAME DAY: Ottawa Senators @ Tampa Bay Lightning - 7:00pm ET - Thu. Oct. 29th, 2009

The Ottawa Senators (6-2-2, 14 points, 2nd in the North East) continue their southern tour in Florida as they face the Tampa Bay Lightning (3-3-3, 9 points, third in the South East) on Thursday night. The Sens are fresh off a 4-3 victory over the Florida Panthers last night and will pay their 2nd game in as many nights. Last night's win may have proven to be costly with Leclaire leaving after 1 period due to flu and Volchenkov suffering an elbow injury late in the game when a Panther's player fell on his arm as he was trying to knock the puck away. Elliott filled in nicely for Leclaire last night to secure the win for the Sens. Kuba's return proved to be much needed as he tallied two assists and helped our power play go 1-1 last night. The Sens handily beat the Lightning earlier in the season, however, the Sens should not expect as easy a game tonight and will need to play smart hockey and avoid the sin bin as much as possible. Way too many penalties last night.

Game Coverage:
- TV: TSN (HD), RIS, SUN (HD)
- Radio: Team 1200
- Web: streams TBD

Game Day Updates:
- Elliott to start in nets for the Sens tonight
- The Sens have called up Brian Lee to replace an injured Volchenkov.
- Volchenkov likely out a couple of weeks with elbow injury, will know more when they get back to Ottawa

Spezza out (upper body, precautionary), Shannon in.

Here are the lines for today's game:

Forward lines:
Kovalev-Fisher-Alfredsson
Michalek-Regin-Shannon
Cheechoo-Foligno-Neil
Ruutu-Kelly-Donovan

Defensive pairings:
Phillips-Kuba
Carkner-Picard
Campoli-Lee

Goaltender:
Elliott
Leclaire

TSN's Ice Chips:

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

Ottawa Senators:

Pascal Leclaire didn't return to the game in the second period Wednesday night. According to the team, he was not feeling well. Leclaire has been battling the flu since last Thursday. - TSN

After living in a hotel since the middle of August, Peter Regin has been told to look for more permanent housing, meaning he will more than likely spend the year in Ottawa. - TSN

Filip Kuba return to game action Wednesday after sustaining an injury in Game 1 in the season. - TSN

Tuesday's Practice Lines

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

Defencemen:
Phillips - Volchenkov
Kuba - Campoli
Picard - Carkner

Goaltenders:
Leclaire
Elliott

Injuries:
Winchester (knee, on injured reserve, assigned to Bingo for conditioning)

Tampa Bay Lightning:

D Paul Ranger, who missed practice after also missing Saturday night's game, is on "personal leave." The team will comment on the matter today, a spokesman said. - Tampa Tribune

Projected lines vs the Sens:

Forwards:
Wright - Lecavalier - St. Louis
Malone - Stamkos - Tanguay
Miller - Halpern - Veilleux
Fedoruk - Konopka - Downie

Devencemen:
Hedman - Ohlund
Meszaros - Foster
Hale - Walker

Goaltenders:
Smith
Niittymaki

Injuries:
Paul Ranger (personal, out indefinately); Andrej Meszaros (head/cut left eye, probable for tonight's game)

Game Day Previews:

OttawaSenators.com Game Day Preview:

Source: http://senators.nhl.com/club/preview.htm?id=2009020167

NHL.com Game Day Preview:

Source: http://www.nhl.com/ice/preview.htm?id=2009020167

Sportsnet.ca Game Day Preview:

Source: http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/scores/20091029/Ott@TB/story

ESPN Game Day Preview:

Source: http://scores.espn.go.com/nhl/preview?gameId=291029020

ESPN Stats Comparison:



Media Links:
- Clouston media presser from Thursday: http://senators.nhl.com/v2/ext/Audio/091029_Clouston.mp3
- SensTV On-line: http://senators.nhl.tv/team/console.jsp
- Official Twitter of the Ottawa Senators: http://twitter.com/NHL_Sens

Ottawa's Last Game: @ Florida Panthers
- Date: Wed. Oct. 28th, 2009
- Score: Senators 4 - Panthers 3
- Recap: http://senators.nhl.com/club/recap.htm?id=2009020160
- Boxscore: http://senators.nhl.com/club/boxscore.htm?id=2009020160
- Game Summary: http://www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20092010/GS020160.HTM
- Video: http://senators.nhl.com/club/gamevideo.htm?id=2009020160

Noteable Senators articles

Ottawa Sun:
Kuba back with a bang: http://www.ottawasun.com/sports/hockey/2009/10/28/11561081.html

Ottawa Sun:
Pascal the talk of the town: http://www.ottawasun.com/sports/columnists/don_brennan/2009/10/28/11561156.html

Ottawa Sun:
Sens ship Karlsson to Bingo: http://www.ottawasun.com/sports/hockey/2009/10/27/11542546.html

Ottawa Sun:
Sens face decision on Karlsson: http://www.ottawasun.com/sports/hockey/2009/10/26/11529881.html

Ottawa Sun:
Clouston take shot at power play: http://www.ottawasun.com/sports/hockey/2009/10/27/11535776-sun.html

Ottawa Sun:
Sens' fight club big hit with fans: http://www.ottawasun.com/sports/columnists/don_brennan/2009/10/26/11534736.html

Ottawa Sun:
Sens assign Karlsson to Bingo: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/sports/Senators+demote+Karlsson/2150705/story.html

Ottawa Citizen:
Sens hold off Panthers: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/sports/hockey/ottawa-senators/Senators+hold+Panthers/2156456/story.html

Ottawa Citizen:
Show will go on: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/sports/hockey/ottawa-senators/Show+will/2148457/story.html

Ottawa Citizen:
Sens look for ways to take advantage: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/sports/hockey/ottawa-senators/Sens+look+ways+take+advantage/2148459/story.html

Ottawa Citizen:
Sens done in by old, familiar enemy: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/sports/hockey/ottawa-senators/Sens+done+familiar+enemy/2142979/story.html

OttawaSenators.com:
Karlsson headed to Bingo: http://senators.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=503717

OttawaSenators.com:
Kuba's return a power play boost: http://senators.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=503589

OttawaSenators.com:
Melnyk gives Canadian skiers a lift: http://senators.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=503577

Noteable Lightning articles:

TampaBayLightning.com
Game day events - Lightning v. Senators: http://lightning.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=503928

TampaBayLightning.com
Another strong week of practice: http://lightning.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=503906

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GO SENS GO!!!

Whew... back to back GDT's! Had to crank this one out quickly. Let's get this party started. GO SENS GO!!! I'll update with goalie and injuries later when Clouston speaks after practice.

thanks for the GDT, will be checking for sure to see which goalie goes tonight, am assuming Elliott since Leclaire is fighting off that flu.

shabbs wrote:The Ottawa Senators (6-2-2, 12 points, 2nd in the North East)

I'm no math major, but by my count that would be 14 points... Sorry, I just couldn't resist.

ddt wrote:

shabbs wrote:The Ottawa Senators (6-2-2, 12 points, 2nd in the North East)

I'm no math major, but by my count that would be 14 points... Sorry, I just couldn't resist.

HA! My bad... that was a left over from the Panther's one. That's what happens when you rush it out. Fixed now.

Clouston is holding an 11am meeting with the players and will announce the line-up afterward.

I noticed Volchie on the practice lines. Should I assume he's good to go for the game tonight based on that?

Cap'n Clutch wrote:I noticed Volchie on the practice lines. Should I assume he's good to go for the game tonight based on that?

No, those were from Tuesday... TSN had not updated it yet.

I'll update this thread after I hear from Clouston.

shabbs wrote:

Cap'n Clutch wrote:I noticed Volchie on the practice lines. Should I assume he's good to go for the game tonight based on that?

No, those were from Tuesday... TSN had not updated it yet.

I'll update this thread after I hear from Clouston.

Ahhh. You're even faster than TSN Seriously though, what do they do? Do they have time to call someone up or do they play short one D man?

Cap'n Clutch wrote:

shabbs wrote:

Cap'n Clutch wrote:I noticed Volchie on the practice lines. Should I assume he's good to go for the game tonight based on that?

No, those were from Tuesday... TSN had not updated it yet.

I'll update this thread after I hear from Clouston.

Ahhh. You're even faster than TSN Seriously though, what do they do? Do they have time to call someone up or do they play short one D man?

I have no idea... I suppose they could have called Lee last night to get his Donkey on the next flight.

This is where a "Schubert" type comes in handy that can switch between.

Hopefully Volchie is good to go.

Tampa is 3-0-2 at home and we're coming off a shakey game against the lowly Panthers coming in to the second half of a back to back. No way the Sens can take ANY team lightly right now. The last three games the Sens have not looked great.

Throw in the possible loss of Volchie and Leclaire and the Sens need to bring there hard hats and grind out a hard working road game.

Exactly. They can't take any opponent lightly at all if you ask me. They need to start getting consistent wins, effort and PP success before they can think they are doing well. The goal tending is there... now, let's fix the rest.

I didn't see any glaring lack of effort last night. In fact, even Kovalev was battling for pucks. Getting into last-goal-wins battles with the likes of Nashville and Florida is a head-scratcher, though.

SeawaySensFan wrote:I didn't see any glaring lack of effort last night. In fact, even Kovalev was battling for pucks. Getting into last-goal-wins battles with the likes of Nashville and Florida is a head-scratcher, though.

Yeah... not liking these games that have last minute scrambles with goalies being pulled... too stressful. HA HA!

Cap'n Clutch wrote:Tampa is 3-0-2 at home and we're coming off a shakey game against the lowly Panthers coming in to the second half of a back to back. No way the Sens can take ANY team lightly right now. The last three games the Sens have not looked great.

Throw in the possible loss of Volchie and Leclaire and the Sens need to bring there hard hats and grind out a hard working road game.

Shaky? We were penalty killing almost the whole game. I wouldn't call that shaky. I think the team battled real hard to stay in that game and come out with a win. There's no such thing as an easy game in the NHL, we all should know that by now.

Don't forget too, the Sens as an organization have never done well on their Florida road trips.