GAME DAY: Florida @ Ottawa , 7:30PM, Thursday, December 22, 2011

Coverage:
TV: Sportsnet SENS
Radio: Team1200
Internet: http://livetv.ru/en

The Sens soundly beat a Buffalo team that has been riddled with injury and seems to have little will to fight through adversity. The new kid Turris looked strong at both ends of the ice making sound defensive zone plays and even contributed with an assist on the game winner. That was some great work by Turris but even more impressive by Condra to stick with the play and pot that goal.

Up next for the final home game before the Christmas break is the surprisingly strong Florida Panthers. The Panthers have been on a somewhat pedestrian 5-3-2 run in their last ten games but are still a strong team and surprisingly I'm actually gonna say this is a tough test coming up here for the Sens. A win tonight could really set a nice streak rolling into the new year with Carolina up after this on the road.

OTTAWA (16-14-4)
Goals leader: Milan Michalek (19)
Assists leader: Erik Karlsson (28)
Points leader: Jason Spezza (37)


Florida (18-10-6)
Goals leader: Kris Versteeg (16)
Assists leader: Brian Campbell (23)
Points leader: Kris Versteeg (35)



NHL Game Day Preview: http://www.nhl.com/ice/preview.htm?id=2011020502&navid=sb:preview



TSN Ice Chips for Ottawa: http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/icechips/?hubname=nhl-senators

TSN Ice Chips for Florida: http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/icechips/?hubname=nhl-panthers


Ottawa Lines
http://www2.dailyfaceoff.com/teams/lines/33/ottawa-senators

Florida Lines
http://www2.dailyfaceoff.com/teams/lines/36/florida-panthers

GO SENS GO!!!!

Watch out for Jason Garrison's cannon from the point. Oh, and this Versteeg character is cleaning up. Oh, and Jose Theodore is having a good year.

Facing Florida is no longer the romp in the park it once was.

tim1_2 wrote:Watch out for Jason Garrison's cannon from the point. Oh, and this Versteeg character is cleaning up. Oh, and Jose Theodore is having a good year.

Facing Florida is no longer the romp in the park it once was.

They played OT in 4 of their last six and twice went to SO. They are traveling. They will be a bit tired. They've lost 4 of those 6 games, and neither win was in regulation. Those wins came against Calgary and Carolina -- not exactly powerhouses.

wprager wrote:

tim1_2 wrote:Watch out for Jason Garrison's cannon from the point. Oh, and this Versteeg character is cleaning up. Oh, and Jose Theodore is having a good year.

Facing Florida is no longer the romp in the park it once was.

They played OT in 4 of their last six and twice went to SO. They are traveling. They will be a bit tired. They've lost 4 of those 6 games, and neither win was in regulation. Those wins came against Calgary and Carolina -- not exactly powerhouses.

Sure. They are also 3rd in the East and are really good this year.

Also, their last game was at home (same time zone) on Tuesday. So if you're going to pull the "they're tired" card, I guess that applied to 50% of the teams on any given night.

Also, I would argue that 5 extra minutes of OT isn't that much of a drain, considering that amounts to maybe an extra two minutes of ice time for the better players.

Anyway, GO SENS GO!!!!!!!!!! TURRIS FOR THE HART!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Florida has scrapped it out with a lot of one goal games. That can be argued as a good thing or a bad thing. They're also 5-3-2 in their last ten which isn't exactly lighting the world on fire. 5 wins and 5 losses isn't killer. They're good this year for sure but perhaps they're falling back to earth a bit now?

As good as Florida is now they look like a one line team.

Sure they are a one line team, but it's a line that's been REALLY good.

Also, Theodore has had a great year. And if we see Markstrom instead, well, he's really good too.

You can't argue with the success they've had...they are a dangerous opponent (much moreso than the banged up Sabres).

We're getting

Dash wrote:We're getting

Nah, I don't think so- I think this is going to be a fast paced, high energy game from two teams who are known for heart as opposed to talent. We could very easily be seeing the two top teams in the Eastern conference several years down the road- both have ELITE prospect pools waiting in the wings. I think this will be probably the most exciting Ottawa/Florida game we've ever seen.

Also- hey guys! Been a long time. :KKK:

Jordo wrote:

Dash wrote:We're getting

Nah, I don't think so

Given that you apparently haven't been around in a long time, I'll translate.

"We're getting " is reverse jinxing us to victory!!!

Welcome back dude!
Oh and that smiley Dash posted is kind of a ritual in here in GDTs. It works

Jordo wrote:

Dash wrote:We're getting

Nah, I don't think so- I think this is going to be a fast paced, high energy game from two teams who are known for heart as opposed to talent. We could very easily be seeing the two top teams in the Eastern conference several years down the road- both have ELITE prospect pools waiting in the wings. I think this will be probably the most exciting Ottawa/Florida game we've ever seen.

Also- hey guys! Been a long time. :KKK:

Hey Jordo! I've noticed you at HB posting lately. Nice to see you back.

I agree with your take on this.

Dash wrote:We're getting

Woops!

Sorry guys. I'll take full blame

hemlock wrote:

Jordo wrote:

Dash wrote:We're getting

Nah, I don't think so- I think this is going to be a fast paced, high energy game from two teams who are known for heart as opposed to talent. We could very easily be seeing the two top teams in the Eastern conference several years down the road- both have ELITE prospect pools waiting in the wings. I think this will be probably the most exciting Ottawa/Florida game we've ever seen.

Also- hey guys! Been a long time. :KKK:

Hey Jordo! I've noticed you at HB posting lately. Nice to see you back.

I agree with your take on this.

Christmas time in the office = killing time on the internet! :KKK:

Yost is a great blogger at HB, and there's a lot less Dung there now, but I'll stick to my roots! Glad to see this site is still going strong.

Who thought the rebuild would be this quick huh? So great to see the sens playing this well and with this much heart. It's great to be able to watch every game, and know that we'll be in it, as opposed to just expecting to get pounded. Excited to see how Turris pans out- but it sucks losing Rundblad. I had actually bought a heritage Rundblad jersey, but luckily it was pro-stitched so it can be switched to Turris!

Jordo wrote:

Dash wrote:We're getting

Nah, I don't think so- I think this is going to be a fast paced, high energy game from two teams who are known for heart as opposed to talent. We could very easily be seeing the two top teams in the Eastern conference several years down the road- both have ELITE prospect pools waiting in the wings. I think this will be probably the most exciting Ottawa/Florida game we've ever seen.

Also- hey guys! Been a long time. :KKK:

What up dude?

I agree, these are two future powers in the East. Possibly the number one and number two prospect pools as well. Huberdeau, Bjugstad, Howden, Gudbranson and Markstrom are a nice young nucleus for sure.