GAME DAY: Ottawa Senators @ Washington Capitals - 7:00pm ET - Thu. Jan. 7th, 2010

The Ottawa Senators (22-17-4, 48 points, 3rd in the Northeast) hit the road to visit the Washington Capitals (25-11-6, 56 points, 1st in the Southeast) on Thursday night at the Verizon Center in Washington, DC.

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

Latest updates:
- Jose Theodore goes for the Caps and Brian Pothier is back in the Caps lineup
- Clouston: no lineup changes for tonight, Leclaire starts in goal, Campoli is the healthy scratch
- Leclaire starting tonight as per: http://twitter.com/SensReporter/status/7483117290
- Game notes for tonight (PDF): http://senators.nhl.com/v2/ext/PDFs/Prospect_Update-100107.pdf

Team Lineups:
Ottawa Senators: http://www.dailyfaceoff.com/team-lineups/ottawa-senators-team-lineup
Washington Capitals: http://www.dailyfaceoff.com/team-lineups/washington-capitals-team-lineup

TSN's Ice Chips:

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

Ottawa Senators:

Lines at practice on Wednesday:

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

Projected lines vs the Capitals:

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

Defencemen:
Phillips - Volchenkov
Kuba - Karlsson
Picard - Carkner

Goaltenders:
Leclaire - starts
Elliott

Healthy scratches:
- Campoli

Injuries:
- Jason Spezza (torn right MCL, out 6-8 weeks)
- Daniel Alfredsson (separated left shoulder, expected to miss 4-6 weeks)

Washington Capitals:

Projected lineup vs the Sens:

Forwards:
Ovechkin-Backstrom-Knuble
Semin-Fleischmann-Laich
Chimera-Morrison-Fehr
Gordon-Steckel-Bradley

Defencemen:
Morrisonn-Green
Poti-Schultz
Pothier-Erskine

Goaltenders
Theodore - starts
Neuvirth

Healthy scratches:
- Sloan
- Laing

Injuries:
- Semyon Varlamov (groin, on IR)

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/20100107/Ott@Was/story

ESPN Game Day Preview:

Source: http://scores.espn.go.com/nhl/preview?gameId=300107023

ESPN Stats Comparison:



Media Links:
- Game notes for tonight (PDF): http://senators.nhl.com/v2/ext/PDFs/Prospect_Update-100107.pdf
- Cory Clouston post-practice presser from Thursday: http://bit.ly/4UQyN5
- Cory Clouston post-practice presser from Wednesday: http://bit.ly/8cDGVN
- Cory Clouston post-game presser from Tuesday: http://bit.ly/882Z2I
- Getting to know Chris Campoli: http://senators.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=512571
- 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 want to put a - on that post just for fun.

Go Sens. Lets bag some goals against Neurivith or Theodore - and let's have Leclaire stand tall please.

Cute, I love p_ussy! (cats).

Sens looking for consistency from goaltenders:

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=304984

Indeed.

SpezDispenser wrote:

shabbs wrote:Sens looking for consistency from goaltenders:

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=304984

Indeed.

Sens should be looking for a new goalie who's good.

Fluff.

shabbs wrote:

SpezDispenser wrote:

shabbs wrote:Sens looking for consistency from goaltenders:

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=304984

Indeed.

Sens should be looking for a new goalie who's good.

Fluff.

I'm actually serious as a heart attack. I want so badly to trust Leclaire, but he's done nothing to earn that. He has one of the worst save % of any starting goalie and I'm back to wanting a real goaltender. I'd LOVE to be proven wrong though.

Looks like tsn published my thoughts. Let me know when everybody is sick of watching the goaltending gongshow in ottawa. This is the worst situation the sens have had in years.

cloverleaf wrote:Looks like tsn published my thoughts. Let me know when everybody is sick of watching the goaltending gongshow in ottawa. This is the worst situation the sens have had in years.

God, hardly. Gerber was horrendous and Elliott was a rookie. Auld was good, but no better than Leclaire. This is pretty par for the course unfortunately.

The question is: can you believe the Sens are still in a playoff spot with crap goaltending? I can't, it's amazing - and neat.

And there is nothing coming either. Lehner has promise, but so did a lot of prospects. That is why they are prospects. Continue to think our goalies are fine and you will continue to lay awake at night.

cloverleaf wrote:And there is nothing coming either. Lehner has promise, but so did a lot of prospects. That is why they are prospects. Continue to think our goalies are fine and you will continue to lay awake at night.

Even Henrik Lundqvist was a prospect once...

Since MTL wont trade with us directly, Murray should put on his magic hat and swing a three way to get us a Halak.

Leclaire missed almost a full year, then while he was getting adjusted to a new team, new (and not very good) defense and a new set of coaches (to say nothing of a reconstructed ankle) he had his jaw broken. Maybe he's still getting back to his form.

Kuba missed a ton of games at the start, maybe he's not quite up to speed yet. Let's give him a chance.

Michalek is missing his centerman, one of the best passers in the game.

Fisher got engaged. You know what Mick (from "Rocky") said -- "Women weaken legs!"

Through all this we're still in a playoff spot.