FINAL - Lightning 2 @ Senators 4, 7:30PM, Monday, December 5, 2011

VS
Who: Tampa Bay Lightning @ Ottawa Senators
When: Monday, December 5, 2011 @ 7:30PM
Where: Sportsnet-East, NHL C-I

The Story:

This is the first meeting between the Sens and the Bolts this season. Last season they split the 4-game series 2-2. Both teams are looking to end a losing streak; the Sens have lost 2 straight while the Lightning have lost 3 in a row. One of these teams' streaks will come to an end tonight at the others expense.
Both Anderson (11-8-2 / .894 SV% / 3.43 GAA) and Roloson (6-7-1 / .887 / 3.51) are confirmed to start - neither sporting Vezina-like numbers.
Two-thirds of the NHL's goal leaders will meet tonight, as it will be Stamkos vs. Michalek. Both teams will likely rely on their hot hands, however the Sens top 6 goal scorers combine for 44 goals, while the Bolts top 5 scorers have combined for 43 goals. Slight edge to the Sens in secondary scoring.

Ottawa (12-11-3)

Ottawa sits 4th in the Northeast and 9th in the conference with 27 points in 26 games.
Their losing streak was extended to two games, however they picked up a lone point in the overtime loss Saturday vs. Washington.

Erik Karlsson leads the NHL in both assists (21) and points by all defenceman (23).

Milan Michalek scored in the Saturday loss, putting him in a 3-way tie for 1st in the NHL goal scoring lead (16) with Phil Kessel and Steven Stamkos.

Team Leaders:

Goals: Milan Michalek (16)
Assists: Erik Karlsson (21)
Points: Jason Spezza (24)
PIMs: Zenon Konopka (82)
+/-: Erik Condra (6)

Players-to-Watch:

Milan Michalek (16-6) has 10 points (6-4) in 10 games played vs. Tampa.

Erik Karlsson (2-21) has 5 assists in 6 games vs. the Lightning.

Starting Line-up:

*As of Dec. 3 - http://www2.dailyfaceoff.com/teams/lines/33/ottawa-senators

Colin Greening - Jason Spezza - Bobby Butler
Milan Michalek - Nick Foligno - Daniel Alfredsson
Kaspars Daugavins - Zack Smith - Erik Condra
Zenon Konopka - Jesse Winchester - Chris Neil

Chris Phillips - Sergei Gonchar
Jared Cowen - Erik Karlsson
Brian Lee - David Rundblad

Injuries:

Filip Kuba, Peter Regin

Lightning (11-12-2)

The Lightning are also 4th in their division (Southeast) but trail the Sens in the conference by 4 spots as they sit 13th in the East with 24 points in 25 games played.

The Lightning losing streak was extended to 3 with a 4-2 loss against the Rangers Saturday.

Steven Stamkos is tied with Michalek and Kessel for the NHL's goal scoring lead.

Team Leaders:

Goals: Steven Stamkos (16)
Assists: Marc-Andre Bergeron (17)
Points: Steven Stamkos (27)
PIMs: Steve Downie (51)
+/-: Steven Stamkos (7)

Players-to-Watch:

Steven Stamkos (16-11) has 11 points (5-6) in 12 games vs. Ottawa in his career.

Ryan Malone has 22 points (11-11) in 23 career games vs. the Sens. He's got 12 points (5-7) currently this season.

Starting Line-up:

*As of Dec. 3 - http://www2.dailyfaceoff.com/teams/lines/39/tampa-bay-lightning

Ryan Malone - Steven Stamkos - Teddy Purcell
Steve Downie - Vincent Lecavalier - Martin St. Louis
Ryan Shannon - Dominic Moore - Brett Connolly
Tom Pyatt - Nate Thompson - Dana Tyrell

Eric Brewer - Victor Hedman
Brett Clark - Pavel Kubina
Marc-Andre Bergeron - Matt Gilroy

Injuries:

Mattias Ohlund

http://www2.dailyfaceoff.com/teams/lines/33/ottawa-senators
http://www2.dailyfaceoff.com/teams/lines/39/tampa-bay-lightning

Minor correction: Ottawa has 27 pts in 26 games.

Fixed. All set now, will likely edit the P2W some, but other than that, not too shabby.

I will be in attendance for this game. :KKK:

Dash wrote:Fixed. All set now, will likely edit the P2W some, but other than that, not too shabby.

I will be in attendance for this game. :KKK:

Bring a book.

Nice GDT, Dash. You're all over the GDTs lately! You must be getting up early to beat prags and clutch.

Should be a good one tonight. A pretty good stretch of home games coming up so Ottawa needs to take advantage after coming off that long haul with an unbelievable record.

Pictures to describe the two teams playing tonight:

Ottawa Senators:



Tampa Bay Lightning:

Yost's lines for tonight:

Bobby Butler – Jason Spezza – Colin Greening
Milan Michalek - Nick Foligno – Daniel Alfredsson
Chris Neil – Zack Smith – Erik Condra
Kaspars Daugavins – Zenon Konopka – Jesse Winchester

Chris Phillips – Erik Karlsson
Jared Cowen – Sergei Gonchar
David Rundblad – Brian Lee

Chirp's lines:

Greening-Spezza-Butler
Michalek-Foligno-Alfredsson
Daugavins-Smith-Condra
Konopka-Winchester-Neil

Phillips-Gonchar
Cowen-Karlsson
Rundblad-Lee

The lines above are slightly different, too. We'll see what happens, I guess.

wprager wrote:

Dash wrote:Fixed. All set now, will likely edit the P2W some, but other than that, not too shabby.

I will be in attendance for this game. :KKK:

Bring a book.

Excellent idea! I should use that time to work on my take home exams!

spader wrote:Nice GDT, Dash. You're all over the GDTs lately! You must be getting up early to beat prags and clutch.

If by early you mean 12:23 lol. Nah, I just have a cookie cutter stencil for GDT's, so I just have to fill in the rest. Clutch was knocking them out days early recently, no way to beat that.

spader wrote:Yost's lines for tonight:

Bobby Butler – Jason Spezza – Colin Greening
Milan Michalek - Nick Foligno – Daniel Alfredsson
Chris Neil – Zack Smith – Erik Condra
Kaspars Daugavins – Zenon Konopka – Jesse Winchester

Chris Phillips – Erik Karlsson
Jared Cowen – Sergei Gonchar
David Rundblad – Brian Lee

Chirp's lines:

Greening-Spezza-Butler
Michalek-Foligno-Alfredsson
Daugavins-Smith-Condra
Konopka-Winchester-Neil

Phillips-Gonchar
Cowen-Karlsson
Rundblad-Lee

The lines above are slightly different, too. We'll see what happens, I guess.

I don't understand why MacLean - a guy who seems to know precisely what he's doing - would separate the best line on the Sens just to get Neil on the "3rd line", I'll believe that when I see it.

stream.....

http://atdhenet.tv/41727/watch-tampa-bay-lightning-vs-ottawa-senators

Thanks Hobie.

Nice effort from Butler there - and a nice hit from Alf.

Big warning for Boucher there. STFU or another penalty.