GAME DAY: Philadelphia Flyers @ Ottawa Senators - 1:00pm ET - Sun. Jan. 3rd, 2010

The Ottawa Senators (21-16-4, 46 points, 3rd in the Northeast) continue their home stand and open the new year by hosting the Philadelphia Flyers (19-18-3, 41 points, 4th in the Atlantic) on Sunday afternoon at SBP. First game of the New Year.

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

Latest updates:
- Clouston: no lineup changes for today's game, meaning Leclaire will start again.

Team Lineups:
Ottawa Senators: http://www.dailyfaceoff.com/team-lineups/ottawa-senators-team-lineup
Philadelphia Flyers: http://www.dailyfaceoff.com/team-lineups/philadelphia-flyers-team-lineup

TSN's Ice Chips:

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

Ottawa Senators:

Lines at practice today:

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

Projected lines vs the Flyers:

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

Defencemen:
Phillips - Volchenkov
Kuba - Karlsson
Campoli - Carkner

Goaltenders:
Leclaire
Elliott

Healthy scratches:
- Picard

Injuries:
- Jason Spezza (knee, out 6-8 weeks)
- Daniel Alfredsson (shoulder, expected to miss 4-6 weeks)

Philadelphia Flyers:

Projected lineup vs the Sens:

Forwards:
Hartnell - Carter - Briere
Gagne - Richards - Giroux
JVR - Powe - Asham
Carcillo - Betts - Laperriere

Defencemen:
Carle - Pronger
Syvret - Timonen
Coburn - Bartulis

Goaltenders:
Leighton
Boucher

Injuries:
- Mike Rathie (hip/back, on ir, out for the season)
- Ray Emery (lower abdominal surgery, on ir expected to miss 6 weeks)
- Ole-Kristian Tollefsen (sprained left MCL, on IR, exptected to miss 3-4 weeks)
- Ryan Parent (back spasms, questionable for Sunday's game vs Ottawa)

Game Day Previews:

OttawaSenators.com Game Day Preview:

Source: will post when available...

NHL.com Game Day Preview:

Source: will post when available...

Sportsnet.ca Game Day Preview:

Source: http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/scores/20100103/Phi@Ott/story

ESPN Game Day Preview:

Source: http://scores.espn.go.com/nhl/preview?gameId=300103014

ESPN Stats Comparison:



Media Links:
- Clouston post-game presser from Thursday night: http://bit.ly/6q076T
- 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!!!

NOTE: This is an afternoon game. 1:00pm puck drop!

GO SENS GO!!!

Flyers are playing alot better.... It's gonna be a good one....

Regin and Neil making up 2/3 of our top line. It's a miracle we're still in a playoff position, and we are actually 3-1 missing our two top players. If we maintain a payoff spot until Spezza and Alfie are back Clouston might be in the running for the Adams. And, no, I'm not kidding. If he can somehow figure out how to motivate Kovalev (and many coaches with much more experience and hardware have tried) and Leclaire gets some consistency, we could make some hay.

Time for Michalek to regain some of that early season magic. The Flyers have given up 6 short-handed goals. Know what I'm thinking? Plus they take more penalties than the Sens. Maybe it's time for Milan to get back in the crease. I'll take one SHG and one PPG, please.

Chirp is reporting the following lines from this morning'd skate:
Shannon-Fisher-Kovalev
Michalek-Regin-Foligno
Ruutu-Kelly-Neil
Cheechoo-Winchester-Donovan

So, basically, Foligno replacing Neil and Cheechoo moved down to the fourth line, replaced by Ruutu.

Clouston post-skate presser from today:

http://bit.ly/6Mv9ml

What, no transcript of the audio?

- not sure if there will be changes tomorrow
- escaped the last game with no injuries
- Campoli *mostly* doing what he wants him to do, but has to be stronger defensively and on the puck
- Flyers playing much better than 3-4 weeks ago
- assessing the first half, they've had good effort most nights, and considering injuries are doing very well
- working hard, playing a structure, solid defensively giving up 11 or fewer scoring chances
- regarding the PP, Karlsson hit a post, couple of pucks bounced over sticks, and they did get two (one called back) the other game;
(I was hoping he'd say something about more movement and quicker passing -- they should look at tapes of the juniors)
- Michalek has to get back to going to the net a bit more; shoot more; use his speed to generate offense (misses SPezza's passes)
- Shannon is doing everything they can hope, just too a long time to get there (early concussion set him back)
- when asked if Leclaire starts, he said he'll know tomorrow and got a little testy saying he never makes his decision known before game day

Other stuff was said about shootouts, playing a team coming off an outdoor game and more, but really nothing of consequence. Didn't reallly call anyone out, didn't praise anyone excessively. Very vanilla. I wish he had said something more direct about the PP. Even when they had Spezza and Alfie in the lineup the PP was horrible. Comparing it against expectations in the summer the PP gets a failing mark IMO.

Anyone think Neil could score 15-20 playing PP minutes and top 6 minutes? Now, I know he isn't a real top 6 forward but he works hard infront of the net, loves to take a beating to make a play, and has some ability to score, especially from the dirty areas.

I think this is a huge opportunity for him to prove he can do more. I know he has been used on the PP from time to time, planted in the crease (not IN the crease, but you know...)

And Michalek on the 2nd line? What the what? The guy is cold and you out him on the 2nd line? That should help...

The order of the lines is really not set in stone at practice. With Alfie and Spezza out we are down to 2A and 2B, so whoever is playing better will get more ice time. It will be an in-game determination.

I like Fisher with Kovalev, and the way Shannon has been playing, you can't really fault Clouston for giving him the ice time. On the other hand, against a team like the Flyers, I really wouldn't mind seeing what Michalek-Fisher-Kovalev could do together.

Nice, Regin with Michalek. Michalek's cold as ice, so put him with the hot player and see if they can produce.

I love the way this team claws and scraps for every point. I was really frustrated at the Islanders game, but by the end, the Sens had done what they needed to do.

Still by far the best GDT available. Good work as usual Shabbs.

I haven't seen the last 5 games (except MTL) from start to finish but I think Kovalev have been playing pretty well and generates a lot of chances. His shot is not back to form yet though.

marakh wrote:I haven't seen the last 5 games (except MTL) from start to finish but I think Kovalev have been playing pretty well and generates a lot of chances. His shot is not back to form yet though.

I watched him as hard as possible from the 100s last game and my issue with him is he can't create/command the space he used to - and he's too damn slow changing and his back-checking is non-existent. It drives me nuts.

I've actually been pretty impressed with Kovalev's overall play lately ... he just needs to get that shot going --- he's had some real close calls lately.

GAME DAY!!!

GO SENS GO!!!