GAME DAY:New York Islanders 1 @ Ottawa Senators 4 - 7:30pm ET - THUR. Nov. 4, 2010

The Ottawa Senators (5-6-1, 11pts) face the visiting New York Islanders (4-6-2, 10pts). The Senators are 3-1-0 in their last 4 games after defeating the Leafs 3-2 in a game that saw Toronto receive 3 questionable power plays in the remaining few minutes of the game. The Isles are currently on a 5 game losing streak after being pummeled 7-2 by the Canes Wednesday night and will face Ottawa for the second game on back to back nights.

The Senators have a great opportunity to hit 500 against a reeling Islanders team that has been hit hard with injuries to some key players and who will be tired from having played the night before. This should be just what the doctor ordered for guys like Regin and Foligno to end their goal-less drought and to get Spezza his first since returning from injury.

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

Latest updates:
Clouston: Leclaire is ready to start. Kuba won't be ready until Saturday at the earliest. Michalek will not play Thursday.

TSN's Ice Chips:

Source for OTTAWA: http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/icechips/?hubname=nhl-senators
Source for NY Isles: http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/icechips/?hubname=nhl-islanders

Key Injuries

Ottawa Senators:
Kuba (leg - Saturday at the earliest)
Michalek (tendinitis in his surgically repaired left knee - out indefinitely)

New York Islanders:
D Mark Streit (shoulder)
RW Kyle Okposo (shoulder)
D Milan Jurcina (hamstring).

Game Day Previews:

ESPN
NHL

Media Links:
- 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!!!

Goes without saying, we can't afford to give up points to the Islanders.

PKC wrote:Goes without saying, we can't afford to give up points to the Islanders.

Then why did you say it? Seriously though, the Sens need to beat up on teams like this for sure, especially in a back to back situation. A big test will be the Habs in MTL on Saturday. A win against the Isles and then the Habs puts us above 500 for the first time all season and would go a long way towards turning this ship around.

Is it just me or has traffic been kinda slow on this site lately?

I'm actually a little afraid of this game. Yes the Isles are a team we shouldn't give up points to, but they play a tough and quick game. And does Pascal Leclaire get a start in this game? Ells has been going 9 straight I think.

Finally, what's up with the 3-goal leads for Ottawa? It all stems back to the playoffs when they gave up the 3-0 lead to pittsburgh and lost game 6. Then they let Phoenix creep back into it, and then Florida got some goals, and then Toronto made it close (thank you zebras). Sens are really missing that killer instinct to put an opponent out of its misery.

To be fair, they held a 3-1 lead for most of the period until the zebras helped their pals out. And, let's face it, with our secondary scoring a concern yet again, it is not surprising that they did not score in the third.

By the way, Buccigross put up an interesting stat. In his first 50 NHL games Karlsson scored 1 goal; since then, 7 goals in 22 games. That's a 26-goal pace for a full season, and our powerplay has only recently started showing signs of life.

26+ goals? Wow, those are interesting numbers, for sure.

We're at 7 PP goals in the last 6 games I think.

wprager wrote:Some decent deals if you are looking for a third jersey:

http://www.capitaltickets.ca/promo
use the code "TAVARES"

Here are the deals:
* Two tickets in the Coca-Cola Zero plus a third jersey - $99
* Two tickets in the upper 300L plus a third jersey - $129
* Two tickets in the lower 300L plus a third jersey - $159

ProHockeylife.com has the third jersey listed at $130, so you get the pair of upper 300 tickets for free.

Bumping this post from another thread.

Not surprised about the deals being offered. I really should have held out for a better deal on my season tickets . Attendance has been terrible. The last couple games were hovering around 16,000. Average attendance is around 18,000 and change.

This is the kind of game Ottawa finds a way to lose. Then we're supposed to shrug it off and say "it's still early". I won't be happy with anything less than a convincing win.

SeawaySensFan wrote:This is the kind of game Ottawa finds a way to lose. Then we're supposed to shrug it off and say "it's still early". I won't be happy with anything less than a convincing win.

Same was said about Florida and we found a way to dominate in that game right?

Anyone have an update on Michalek?

Cap'n Clutch wrote:

SeawaySensFan wrote:This is the kind of game Ottawa finds a way to lose. Then we're supposed to shrug it off and say "it's still early". I won't be happy with anything less than a convincing win.

Same was said about Florida and we found a way to dominate in that game right?

I found that to be nothing more than a pleasant surprise because of the history. Beating the Isles handily would start to change my mind.

Michalek update from Clouston - He won't play Thursday.

The good news is that while OTT hasn't yet started to play anything like the kind of hockey that it's capable of, we're still finding ways to win in the interval as we sort our game out. Given the kind of disarray we started the season off with, I think that the best we can hope for. You can already start to see things coming together, tho'. Phillips and Gonchar are getting more comfortable together, as are all our D pairings. The PP is starting to click. It's taking time and there's definitely some spots that need re-plastering and a new coat of paint, but things are slowly starting to come together. Next in order is getting Regin, Foligno, and Spezza firing, and working Michalek, Kuba, and Leclaire back into our line-up. Elliott has been great and I think it likely that he'll be our go-to goalie, but we have to get Leclaire going soon, too.

Leclaire may very well get a start against the Isles, because I don't think throwing him out against the Smurfs is the way to go (then, again, Montreal and Quebec-born goalies -- you know the history).

There was talk yesterday or the day before that Kuba *may* play Thursday.