GAME DAY: Colorado Avalanche @ Ottawa Senators - 7:00pm ET - Wed. Dec. 30th, 2009

The Ottawa Senators (20-15-4, 44 points, 3rd in the Northeast) continue their home stand and host this season's biggest surprise, the Colorado Avalanche (22-12-6, 50 points, 1st in the Northwest) on Wednesday night at SBP in the first of back to back games at home as the Sens host the Islanders on Thursday. The Sens are coming off an amazing come-from-behind win over the hated Habs on Monday night that had SBP feeling like it was the playoffs. Pascal Leclaire was outstanding in net early and bailed the team out holding the Habs to just two goals when the Sens could have easily found themselves down by 4 or 5 goals early. The forwards finally got it in gear in the 2nd half of the game and put the boots to the surging Habs despite Fraser doing his best to help the Habs out. The Avalanche have been a huge surprise this season and find themselves atop the Northwest division. Craig Anderson has been giving them terrific goaltending and the team is playing with a lot of confidence from their great start early in the season. The Sens will need to continue their strong play and keep the momentum going. Leclaire will have to continue to provide strong goaltending for the Sens and make those key, timely saves. No update from Clouston on the status of Erik Karlsson and whether he'll be inserted into the line-up or not.

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

Latest updates:
- Leclaire starts in net
- Foligno is in the line-up tonight.
- Keller is out and has been sent down to Bingo.
- Karlsson a healthy scratch again.

Team Lineups:
Ottawa Senators: http://www.dailyfaceoff.com/team-lineups/ottawa-senators-team-lineup
Colorado Avalanche: http://www.dailyfaceoff.com/team-lineups/colorado-avalanche-team-lineup

TSN's Ice Chips:

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

Ottawa Senators:

Nick Foligno (knee) continues to skate with the team and is expected to be back in the lineup by end of the week. - TSN

Forward lines at practice on Tuesday:

Michalek - Fisher - Neil
Kovalev - Regin - Shannon
Keller - Kelly - Cheechoo
Foligno - Winchester - Donovan

Projected lines vs the Avalanche:

Forwards:
Michalek - Fisher - Neil
Kovalev - Regin - Shannon
Foligno - Kelly - Cheechoo
Ruutu - Winchester - Donovan

Defencemen:
Phillips - Volchenkov
Kuba - Campoli
Picard - Carkner

Goaltenders:
Leclaire
Elliott

Healthy scratches:
- Karlsson (no status update from Clouston in his presser, no one even asked)
- Keller (assuming Foligno is back in the lineup)

Injuries:
- Jason Spezza (knee, out 6-8 weeks)
- Nick Foligno (knee, practices with team on Tuesday, could be in the lineup on Wednesday)
- Daniel Alfredsson (shoulder, expected to miss 4-6 weeks)

Colorado Avalanche:

Projected lineup vs the Sens:

Forwards:
Wolski - Stastny - Stewart
McLeod - Galiardi - Hejduk
Tucker - O'Reilly - Yip
Durno - Duchene - Hendricks

Defencemen:
Quincey - Hannan
Liles - Clark
Foote - Wilson

Goaltenders:
Anderson
Budaj

Injuries:
- Ruslan Salei (back, on IR)
- Kyle Cumiskey (foot, on IR)
- David Jones (torn left ACL, on IR, out indefinitely)
- Marek Svatos (groin, questionable for Wednesday's game vs Ottawa)

Game Day Previews:

OttawaSenators.com Game Day Preview:

Source: http://senators.nhl.com/club/preview.htm?id=2009020594

NHL.com Game Day Preview:

Source: http://www.nhl.com/ice/preview.htm?id=2009020594

Sportsnet.ca Game Day Preview:

Source: http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/scores/20091230/Col@Ott/story

ESPN Game Day Preview:

Source: http://scores.espn.go.com/nhl/preview?gameId=291230014

ESPN Stats Comparison:



Media Links:
- Keller re-assigned to Bingo: http://senators.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=511510
- Clouston post-practice audio from Tuesday: http://bit.ly/5m239g
- Clouston post-game audio from Monday night: http://bit.ly/8KTTFI
- SensTV On-line: http://senators.nhl.tv/team/console.jsp
- Official Twitter of the Ottawa Senators: http://twitter.com/NHL_Sens

Spread the word!

Follow GMHockey on Twitter: http://twitter.com/gmhockey

GO SENS GO!!!

Clouston seems to have shuffled the top 6 a bit... not sure if he'll stick with that or not. We'll see tomorrow.

I like the look of the top six actually. I would like to see Foligno play his way back there at some point though. A Michalek, Fisher, Foligno line would be quite nice. Neil on that top line just can't be sustained can it?

I guess we won't here more on Foligno until tomorrow?

Cap'n Clutch wrote:I guess we won't here more on Foligno until tomorrow?

Well, Clouston said he'd see how he felt after practice today... so who knows. I suspect he'll know for sure by the end of today, but we won't find out until after the skate tomorrow.

2 things we could do right now to improve the team.

1. foligno and a second to chicago for sharp

2. sign schneider

What other 2 things could Murray do right now to improve the team

What? Duche is on the 4th line? F that S.

This game is probably the thing I've most looked forward to all Xmas. Go Battalion!!

Keller re-assigned to Binghamton (source: Sens Twitter).

So I guess Foligno is in? Or Campoli back to forward and Karlsson draws back in?

Foligno must be back in then.

Keller re-assigned to Bingo news release:

http://senators.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=511510

111519 wrote:2 things we could do right now to improve the team.

1. foligno and a second to chicago for sharp

2. sign schneider

What other 2 things could Murray do right now to improve the team

Swapping Foligno for Sharp adds more than $3M in cap hit; Schneider is another $2.75M We would have to move Kuba and get Schneider at half-price on re-entry.

Do you seriously think these things through before you type?

Sorry if that sounded harsh but, come on, seriously.

wprager wrote:

111519 wrote:2 things we could do right now to improve the team.

1. foligno and a second to chicago for sharp

2. sign schneider

What other 2 things could Murray do right now to improve the team

Swapping Foligno for Sharp adds more than $3M in cap hit; Schneider is another $2.75M We would have to move Kuba and get Schneider at half-price on re-entry.

That's Stan Bowman math right there.... what cap?

*ducks and runs before DTR launches onslaught*

I think you're safe there, Shabbs. DTR hasn't been around for a while. He must be on a contract.

wprager wrote:

111519 wrote:2 things we could do right now to improve the team.

1. foligno and a second to chicago for sharp

2. sign schneider

What other 2 things could Murray do right now to improve the team

Swapping Foligno for Sharp adds more than $3M in cap hit; Schneider is another $2.75M We would have to move Kuba and get Schneider at half-price on re-entry.

Do you seriously think these things through before you type?

You get me Sharp for Foligno and a 2nd and Schneider as a waiver pick up, I'll deal with the rest, I swear I will. This team is instantly much, much better.

Sharp = Cheechoo. I'd waive him right away, leave him in Bingo until I can buy him out. Schneider would cost almost half of the 2.75 (because we're close to the halfway point) and while the cap hit is halved at this point, our cap space stays the same. We have enough money to absorb his contract right now I would imagine - we have 1.5 (ish) in space, right?

There, that's how you do that...if you want that is.

AUTO-GENERATED CAPGEEK.COM LINES
FORWARDS
Jason Spezza ($7.000m) / Alexei Kovalev ($5.000m) / Daniel Alfredsson ($4.875m)
Milan Michalek ($4.333m) / Mike Fisher ($4.200m) / * sharp ($3.000m)
Jonathan Cheechoo ($3.000m) / Chris Kelly ($2.125m) / Chris Neil ($2.000m)
Jarkko Ruutu ($1.300m) / * Shean Donovan ($0.625m) / * Peter Regin ($0.607m)
DEFENSEMEN
Filip Kuba ($3.700m) / Chris Phillips ($3.500m)
* Anton Volchenkov ($2.500m) / * schneider ($1.300m)
Erik Karlsson ($1.300m) / Matt Carkner ($0.700m)
GOALTENDERS
Pascal Leclaire ($3.800m) / Brian Elliott ($0.850m)
CAPGEEK.COM TOTALS
ROSTER: 20; PAYROLL: $56.978m; CAP ROOM: $0.247m BONUSES: $0.425m

Just saying...

And you wouldn't waive cheechoo for sharp??