GAME DAY: Montreal Canadiens @ Ottawa Senators - 7:30pm ET - Tue. Dec. 8th, 2009 PLUS post game thoughts

The Ottawa Senators (14-10-4, 32 points, 3rd in the Northeast) return home from a very disappointing Western road trip to host the Montreal Canadiens (14-14-2, 30 points, 4th in the Northeast) on Tuesday night at Scotiabank Place in Kanata. The Sens are coming off a 4-3 SO win over the struggling Ducks that marked the end of their dismal 5 game road trip that saw them take 3 out of a possible 10 points. Lackluster and uninspiring effort from many players resulted in the Sens' horrid performance. Hopefully closing out on a win will re-energize this team. Clouston made some much needed changes in the lines moving Spezza to the 2nd line with Foligno and Kovalev, setting the top line with Fisher centering Michalek and Alfredsson. This seemed to get the guys going and hopefully it will continue. The Habs snapped a losing streak with a win at home vs Boston on their Centennial celelbration. Lots of questions in net for the Habs this season and the injury bug has not been kind to them either. They will be playing their 2nd game in as many nights when they face the Sens. The Habs host the Flyers on Monday night. This could mean we see Halak in net. Hopefully the Sens can use this to their advantage. Look for the lineup to remain unchanged from Sunday night for the Sens. GO SENS GO!!!

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

Latest Updates:
- Clouston: Elliott starts in goal tonight. ( http://twitter.com/NHL_Sens/status/6466922390 )
- Halak goes for the Habs: http://twitter.com/rdsca/statuses/6468025756

Team Lineups:
Ottawa Senators: http://www.dailyfaceoff.com/team-lineups/ottawa-senators-team-lineup
Montreal Canadiens: http://www.dailyfaceoff.com/team-lineups/montreal-canadiens-team-lineup

TSN's Ice Chips:

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

Ottawa Senators:

Projected lines vs the Habs:

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, expected to miss 4 weeks)
- Neil (knee, out indefinitely)
- Picard (shoulder, questionable for Tuesday's game against Montreal)

Montreal Canadiens:

Sergei Kostitsyn (lower body) was given a therapy day and did not skate. Head coach Jacques Martin says he is day-to-day and will be evaluated on Monday. The coach does not think Kostitsyn will miss time.
It was Benoit Pouliot's first full practice with the team since being acquired from the Minnesota Wild. He needs to build strength in his injured right wrist and Martin believes he may be ready to play near the end of next week. As a result, Ryan White was returned to the Hamilton Bulldogs (AHL). - TSN

Projected lines vs the Sens:

Forwards:
Cammalleri - Plekanec - A. Kostitsyn
Pacioretty - Metropolit - Moen
S. Kostitsyn - Gomez - D'Agostini
Bergeron - Lapierre - Laraque

Defencemen:
Hamrlik - Spacek
Gill - Gorges
Mara - O'Byrne

Goaltenders:
Price
Halak

Injuries:
- Andrei Markov (left ankle tendon surgery, on IR expected to miss 4 months)
- Benoit Pouliot (wrist, on IR)
- Brian Gionta (broken left foot, on IR and out indefinitely)

Game Day Previews:

OttawaSenators.com Game Day Preview:

Source: http://senators.nhl.com/club/preview.htm?id=2009020439

NHL.com Game Day Preview:

Source: http://www.nhl.com/ice/preview.htm?id=2009020439

Sportsnet.ca Game Day Preview:

Source: http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/scores/20091208/Mon@Ott/story

ESPN Game Day Preview:

Source: http://scores.espn.go.com/nhl/preview?gameId=291208014

ESPN Stats Comparison:



Media Links:
- Game notes for tonight: http://senators.nhl.com/v2/ext/PDFs/091208_Ott-vs-Mtl.pdf
- Clouston post practice presser from Tuesday: http://bit.ly/5nR15J
- Clouston post game presser from Sunday night: http://bit.ly/5JZzHc
- 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!!!

Go Sens Go!!! We can win this!!!

We may be a little tired coming from out West, but no excuses as the Habs are playing tonight. Expecting a big win tomorrow night, with Kovy netting 2. People like to rip on the guy, but I've seen his game turn around ever since he got back from Russia.

Go Sens Go!!

Would love to see Kovy light it up...

Habs gonna go with Price back to back nights you think?

SDH89 wrote:Habs gonna go with Price back to back nights you think?

Not sure... I guess it all depends on how it goes tonight... I think we may see Halak tomorrow if Price goes tonight.

<---- Bringing it back for today, tomorrow, and possibly wednesday.

We should really get t-shirts made using that logo... I know a guy.

shabbs wrote:

SDH89 wrote:Habs gonna go with Price back to back nights you think?

Not sure... I guess it all depends on how it goes tonight... I think we may see Halak tomorrow if Price goes tonight.

I would prep for Halak personally. Tonight's gonna be intense I would imagine.

Elliott got the nod on back to back nights... these guys are young ,they can handle it.

Dash wrote:Elliott got the nod on back to back nights... these guys are young ,they can handle it.

True enough.

you think they might give the night to brodeur?

Flo The Action wrote:you think they might give the night to brodeur?

Call me crazy but I think the Sens will have to go with Elliot on this one. It's the first game back home after a horrible road trip and its against a rival too so it's must win situation really and I don't think they'd want to risk going with the untested back up to the back up goalie

I think they should give him some action. Was he Bingo's #1? If so, sucks for him and them, cause it can't be any fun sitting on the bench when you could be playing.