Sens' Lineup Talk going into this week

Posting from the Sun - UPDATE - BRUCE GARRIOCH
This can be moved to the Gameday Thread when it is up.

Pascal Leclaire might not be at the top of his game these days, but expect him to get the call in the Ottawa net Tuesday when the Senators meet the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Ottawa coach Cory Clouston doesn’t name his starter until game day, but expect to see Leclaire make the start against the struggling Maple Leafs. He is the club’s No. 1 backstop and there is no reason to start a goaltending controversy at this stage of the campaign.

Brian Elliott has played well, including his performance Saturday in a 2-1 shootout loss to the New York Rangers, but the thinking is the Senators want to give Leclaire a chance to get into a groove.

“We’re confident. It’s a long season," said Clouston. "Both have played very well. I don’t think it’s going to be very long before Pascal finds his rhythm and I think he’s going to be one of the top goalies in the league."

That wasn’t only update from practice today. The Senators are also looking forward to the return of Anton Volchenkov.

The veteran defenceman, who has missed seven games with an elbow injury, could return to practice tomorrow and could be back on the ice against the Buffalo Sabres Saturday at home.
There was a change to the lines today. Winger Nick Foligno skated with Mike Fisher and Alexei Kovalev.

YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sweetness, A-Train back soon!!

The Foligno-Fisher-Kovalev line should be quite interesting. Foligno needs to get going as much as Kovalev does.

I would still like to see Kovalev on line 1 though, hopefully that will be tried again soon.

Come on Leclaire!! Get your groove back!!

I'm not sure I like Foligno and Kovalev together. Kovalev's a guy who's best working in open ice in the zone, sort of like on a powerplay. Foligno is cycle, cycle, cycle. I don't think that meshes.

Here's what I'd do. Spezza and Michalek are good enough in their own right that they shouldn't need Alfredsson and in fact should be responsible for getting one of the two struggling forward additions going. Alfredsson should play with Regin and get the other one. Finally, FFS gets put back together, which benefitted Fisher last season and also had Shannon and Foligno going.

So,

Michalek - Spezza - Cheechoo/Kovalev
Cheechoo/Kovalev - Regin - Alfredsson
Foligno - Fisher - Shannon

Diddle yeah. Volchenkov means so much to this team. Saturday...is a long way off, but it's better than a month from now.

I'm not a fan of the Fisher - Foligo - Kovalev line to be honest.

Now would be a great time for Leclaire to be lights out and win NHL 1st star of the week honors. With Toronto coming in you know it's going to be a battle. Then you have Pittsburgh who just got Malkin back and Buffalo who has Miller playing fantastic hockey right now.

I can see us winning vs. the Leafs but the Pens and Sabres worry me. Then comes Washington (probably with AO back). If the Sens truly think they are a playoff team they need wins vs. the Leafs and Pens and a minimum of an OT/SOL vs. the Sabres and Caps.

asq2 wrote:I'm not sure I like Foligno and Kovalev together. Kovalev's a guy who's best working in open ice in the zone, sort of like on a powerplay. Foligno is cycle, cycle, cycle. I don't think that meshes.

Here's what I'd do. Spezza and Michalek are good enough in their own right that they shouldn't need Alfredsson and in fact should be responsible for getting one of the two struggling forward additions going. Alfredsson should play with Regin and get the other one. Finally, FFS gets put back together, which benefitted Fisher last season and also had Shannon and Foligno going.

So,

Michalek - Spezza - Cheechoo/Kovalev
Cheechoo/Kovalev - Regin - Alfredsson
Foligno - Fisher - Shannon

You have a good point for sure. I initially cringed a little when I saw that, but thought maybe it could work. We'll see what happens, hopefully it works out, if not Clouston will do what he needs to do.

I would really like to see Kovalev on the top line though. I don't mind seeing Regin with Alfie either, Cheechoo could possibly work out there. Maybe that's who Cheechoo needs to play with to get him going. Alfie is quite good at making everyone around him better, it could work.

Michalek - Spezza - Kovalev
Cheechoo - Regin - Alfie
Foligno - Fisher - Shannon
Ruutu - Kelly - Donovan
Then that leaves Neil out? I don't want to scratch Dono again, I'll tell you that much. Ruutu can't get scratched either, he's been too good. And, of course, we just can't scratch Neil, he's been very good too. Shannon really is the odd man out.

Dilemma. Am I wrong?

Phillips - Lee
Campoli - Kuba
Carkner - Picard I can't anymore...it's too terrible.

When A-Train comes back

Phillips - A-Train
Campoli - Kuba
Lee - Carkner
??? Good?

It's a battle of the powerhouses for sure.

Should be an interesting game. Toronto's skaters looked excellent against Calgary, but couldn't beat Kiprusoff and their own goaltending.

Ian White should be good to go, right? He's much improved over the past season and a half, and he's an important piece of their team.

Cap'n Clutch wrote:I can see us winning vs. the Leafs but the Pens and Sabres worry me. Then comes Washington (probably with AO back). If the Sens truly think they are a playoff team they need wins vs. the Leafs and Pens and a minimum of an OT/SOL vs. the Sabres and Caps.

Leafs should be a very interesting game. I hope we can win it, they put so much energy into their games, we'll have to match it and even be better. Good game for Leclaire to get his groove back and some more confidence for sure though.

Sabres, I love playing them! It's a good test for us and they are always serious intense battling games. I'm not worried to be honest. We know Miller. We should be able to battle against them and make a push for a win or at least a point.

Pens we always play some of our best hockey against them, so again, not too too worried. Should be another great battling exciting game.

Washington, forget it! We're done against them, I don't see us winning one game against them. We have as hard a time against them as we do against the B's. We've got to get out of that somehow, it's disastrous.

SpezDispenser wrote:I'm not a fan of the Fisher - Foligo - Kovalev line to be honest.

They played together already. I don't see how this is "new"?

Yeah, I watched the Leafs/Flames game and if Gustvasson hadn't of let those softies in right at the start, it would have been a whole different game, but Kiprusoff was playing lights out... unbelievable.

SeawaySensFan wrote:

SpezDispenser wrote:I'm not a fan of the Fisher - Foligo - Kovalev line to be honest.

They played together already. I don't see how this is "new"?

Have they? I don't really remember, it's not really something that strikes me as being something that would work - unless Foligno turned into a bonafide goal scorer and I missed it somewhere along the way. Cheechoo should be there, because he's been a sniper before and we've seen him snipe one this year and hit about 40 posts.

Kovalev is close to being as good a passer as even the great Spezza, so he needs someone there who can finish. Which is why it's odd that Alfie was moved from that line - although it forced Kovalev to play his wrong wing - which...sucked.

SensGirl11 wrote:Posting from the Sun - UPDATE - BRUCE GARRIOCH
This can be moved to the Gameday Thread when it is up.

GDT is up now!