GAME DAY: Ottawa Senators @ Anaheim Ducks - 8:00pm ET - Sun. Dec. 6th, 2009

The Ottawa Senators (13-10-4, 30 points, 3rd in the Northeast) are winless on their miserable Western road trip and head to Anaheim to visit the Ducks (10-13-5, 25 points, last in the Pacific) on Sunday night before returning home. The Sens will be playing their 2nd game in as many days after losing 3-2 to the Coyotes the night before. We may see Brodeur in net as Elliott has started every game since Pascal Leclaire was injured. This road trip has been brutal to say the least with the Sens getting 1 out of a possible 8 points so far. Not good at all and if the Sens return home winless after this trip, accountability must be made a priority with players getting benched. The Ducks have struggled this year mightily and find themselves in last place in the Western Conference. This is a surprise to many but they remain a tough team to play against, even with Selanne out of the line-up. The Sens need to salvage some pride with a convincing win tonight. Both teams will be looking to snap 4 game losing streaks... all predictions are out the window... anything could happen tonight.

Game Coverage:
- TV: RIS, SNET-E (HD), KDOC
- Radio: Team 1200
- Web: check http://www.atdhe.net and http://www.justin.tv

Latest Updates:
- Elliott starts in net tonight for the Sens.
- Spezza will play with Kovalev/Foligno. Fisher will centre unit with Michalek/Alfredsson.

Team Lineups:
Ottawa Senators: http://www.dailyfaceoff.com/team-lineups/ottawa-senators-team-lineup
Anaheim Ducks: http://www.dailyfaceoff.com/team-lineups/anaheim-ducks-team-lineup

TSN's Ice Chips:

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

Ottawa Senators:

Projected lines vs the Ducks:

Forwards:
Michalek - Fisher - Alfredsson
Foligno - Spezza - Kovalev
Ruutu - Kelly - Cheechoo
Regin - Winchester - Shannon

Defencemen:
Phillips - Volchenkov
Kuba - Karlsson
Campoli - Carkner

Goaltenders:
Elliott
Brodeur

Injuries:
- Donovan (knee, on IR, out indefinitely)
- Leclaire (broken jaw, out 4 weeks)
- Neil (knee, expected to miss 1-2 weeks)
- Picard (shoulder, missed Saturday's game)

Anaheim Ducks:

Projected Lines vs the Sens:

Forwards:
Lupul - Getzlaf - Perry
Ryan - Koivu - Sexton
Belsekey - Marchant - Nokelainen
Brown - Chipchura - Parros

Defencemen:
Niedermayer - Boynton
Whitney - Wisnewski
Festerling - Brookbank

Goaltenders:
Hiller
Giguere

Injuries:
- Ryan Carter (broken right foot, on IR out indefinitely)
- Kyle Calder (left eye, on IR and expected to miss 2-4 weeks)
- Teemu Selanne (left hand surgery, on IR and expected to miss 4-6 weeks)

Game Day Previews:

OttawaSenators.com Game Day Preview:

Source: http://senators.nhl.com/club/preview.htm?id=2009020428

NHL.com Game Day Preview:

Source: http://www.nhl.com/ice/preview.htm?id=2009020428

Sportsnet.ca Game Day Preview:

Source: http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/scores/20091206/Ott@Anh/story

ESPN Game Day Preview:

Source: http://scores.espn.go.com/nhl/preview?gameId=291206025

ESPN Stats Comparison:



Media Links:
- Clouston post game presser from Saturday night: http://bit.ly/4slTCd
- SensTV On-line: http://senators.nhl.tv/team/console.jsp
- Official Twitter of the Ottawa Senators: http://twitter.com/NHL_Sens

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GO SENS GO!!!

I said they should sit Spezza, Kovalev, Cheechoo and Shannon for the Phoenix game, and I'm still saying the same for tonight. On paper we can compete with the Ducks with those four out of the lineup.

This is quickly becoming more painful than the late spring with no Sens games last year.

Cheechoo may have been the best Sen last night...

why can't we win outside Ottawa? specifically the west coast?

Michallica wrote:why can't we win outside Ottawa? specifically the west coast?

because the team isn't that good. we need our young D to get seasoned, so it will take 2-3 more years. a quiet rebuild. this is why i think filatov is such a good idea, he's young and could be here for years to come. wont see a trade till the deadline though... and that's if columbus is in a playoff picture.

wprager wrote:I said they should sit Spezza, Kovalev, Cheechoo and Shannon for the Phoenix game, and I'm still saying the same for tonight. On paper we can compete with the Ducks with those four out of the lineup.

This is quickly becoming more painful than the late spring with no Sens games last year.

I'm with you Prager. Cheechoo and Shannon can stay, they've competed well enough lately. Spezza and Kovalev have been flat out busts this year. I'm annoyed right now - big time.

Flo The Action wrote:
because the team isn't that good. we need our young D to get seasoned, so it will take 2-3 more years. a quiet rebuild. this is why i think filatov is such a good idea, he's young and could be here for years to come. wont see a trade till the deadline though... and that's if columbus is in a playoff picture.

Yeah, pretty much. We all knew this was coming, but it still hurts a lot when it actually happens.

Boo.

Our defence just blows. Its unbelievable how many goals the sens are allowing per game. This after Volchie comes back....brutal. This game is extremely important to win since its widely known that the first home game after a road trip usually means a loss (stupid habs reap the benefits). Otherwise we're looking at perhaps 6 straight losses to open up December!

However, my biggest issue with this team is the play of spezza. He's always whipped around by the fans, but he still usually comes out on the positive side of the +/- stat. But now he just looks like he's not trying anymore, and just leaves it to chance with dumb passes. I can only hope that clouston somehow lights a fire under his Donkey. Stop with the Mich-alf-spezz line now! It hasn't worked since day one.

Now, enough dwelling with the past. At least we are in better position with this garbage road trip than we were last year (0-7-1 road trip from hell). What was the word on foligno and campoli's play? Was there an overall more jump or not?

SpezDispenser wrote:

wprager wrote:I said they should sit Spezza, Kovalev, Cheechoo and Shannon for the Phoenix game, and I'm still saying the same for tonight. On paper we can compete with the Ducks with those four out of the lineup.

This is quickly becoming more painful than the late spring with no Sens games last year.

I'm with you Prager. Cheechoo and Shannon can stay, they've competed well enough lately. Spezza and Kovalev have been flat out busts this year. I'm annoyed right now - big time.

Yeah, we don't have enough bodies to sit out 4 and, as Shabbs said, Cheechoo may have been our best forward last night. I had actually started to write something like that in my original post -- he had 2 assists and 3 shots, I believe, and Shannon also had 3 shots. Cheechoo, as well, is familiar with the West style of play.

The other two can STFO (sit the %^&^ out).

Cheechoo has been one of the best Sens since the depreciation thread. Quick, let's start some new ones.

start a Spezza one asap

Start a Clouston one, that way we won't get a too many men on the ice penalty every second game.

Game Notes for tonight:

http://senators.nhl.com/v2/ext/PDFs/Game%20notes%20Dec%206.pdf

I'll summarize in two words: MUST WIN.

Ive never seen 20 men get raped at the same time before, but tonight I think it might happen.

N4L wrote:Ive never seen 20 men get raped at the same time before, but tonight I think it might happen.

the sadest part about it is that as funny as it is, it's sooo true

And where's the Spezza depreciation thread??