GAME DAY: Ottawa @ Carolina, 7:00PM, Friday, December 23, 2011

VS
Who: Ottawa Senators @ Carolina Hurricanes
When: Friday, December 23, 2011 @ 7:00PM
Where: Rogers Sports-Net East

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The Story:

This will be the third meeting between the Sens and 'Canes. The Senators lead the season series 2-0. Jason Spezza scored the SO winner in the Sens 3-2 WIN in Carolina, and also scored twice in the Sens 4-3 WIN at home.

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Ottawa (17-14-4)

The Sens are playing back-to-back after a 4-3 OT win at home last night over the Florida Panthers, extending their winning streak to 3. Kyle Turris picked up an assist on Bobby Butler's game winning goal, putting him on a 2 game point streak since his debut with Ottawa. The Sens are 3rd in the Northeast and 7th in the conference with 38 pts in 35 games.

Team Leaders:

Goals: Milan Michalek (19)
Assists: Erik Karlsson (29)
Points: Jason Spezza (37)
PIMs: Zenon Konopka (106)
+/-: Erik Condra (8)

Players-to-Watch:

Jason Spezza has 3 goals in the 2 wins vs. Carolina this season, and has 36 pts (16-20) in 29 career games vs. Carolina.

Starting Line-up:

Colin Greening - Jason Spezza - Daniel Alfredsson
Nick Foligno - Kyle Turris - Erik Condra
Kaspars Daugavins - Zack Smith - Chris Neil
Brian Lee - Zenon Konopka - Bobby Butler

Filip Kuba - Erik Karlsson
Chris Phillips - Matt Carkner
Jared Cowen - Sergei Gonchar

Craig Anderson

Injuries:

Peter Regin, Jesse Winchester

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Hurricanes (10-19-6)

Carolina is on a two game losing skid, with a 4-3 loss to the Coyotes on Wednesday, at home. The Hurricanes are 5th in the Southeast and 15th in the conference with 26 pts in 35 games. Carolina will be without its leading goal scorer Jeff Skinner, who has been sidelined since Dec. 9 with a concussion.

Team Leaders:

Goals: Jeff Skinner (12)
Assists: Jussi Jokinen (16)
Points: Jeff Skinner (24)
PIMs: Bryan Allen (36)
+/-: Anthony Stewart (2)

Players-to-Watch:

The Hurricanes are going to need Captain Eric Staal to be a dominant offensive threat like he once was. With only 7 goals, he is in a 3-way tie for 4th on team scoring, but is tied for 2nd with Jokinen in points (20). He has only 1 point (a goal) in the season series vs. Ottawa. Staal is nearly a point-per-game player in his career (29 pts in 30 games) vs. the Sens.

Starting Line-up:

Drayson Bowman - Eric Staal - Chad LaRose
Alexei Ponikarovsky - Jussi Jokinen - Tuomo Ruutu
Jiri Tlusty - Brandon Sutter - Pat Dwyer
Pat Dwyer
Andreas Nodl - Riley Nash - Anthony Stewart

Tim Gleason - Jamie McBain
Jay Harrison - Justin Faulk
Jaroslav Spacek - Bryan Allen


Injuries:

Jeff Skinner, Brian Boucher

Excited to see Mr Poise.

let's go for a sweep!

Not going to predict the outcome. Carolina sitting at home waiting.. Sens got in very early in the morning.

The other 2 games have been close...

Just win boys..

My guess is that this is a high-scoring affair. 5-3 Sens.

Go Sens!

spader wrote:My guess is that this is a high-scoring affair. 5-3 Sens.

Both teams are missing their leading goal scorers, though.

Lee on the 4th line? What about The Hoff? Was there no validity to Garrioch's tweet?

Hoffman *will* make his NHL debut.

http://www.ottawasun.com/2011/12/23/hoffman-called-up-to-sens

I went by Dailyfaceoff, which still has the Sens lines as I posted, as of Dec. 23. So, if we know that Hoffman is in, then ok.

wprager wrote:Hoffman *will* make his NHL debut.

http://www.ottawasun.com/2011/12/23/hoffman-called-up-to-sens

Awesome. Very happy for this guy.

LeKid wrote:Excited to see Mr Poise.

Who?

Alfie's next goal will be #400. His next assist will be #650.

If you count playoff goals, too, then he is 56 shy of 500. If he plays next year I think he's got a chance.

wprager wrote:Alfie's next goal will be #400. His next assist will be #650.

If you count playoff goals, too, then he is 56 shy of 500. If he plays next year I think he's got a chance.

All hail The Alfie.

SeawaySensFan wrote:

wprager wrote:Alfie's next goal will be #400. His next assist will be #650.

If you count playoff goals, too, then he is 56 shy of 500. If he plays next year I think he's got a chance.

All hail The Alfie.

Al Hale? "Hey, little buddy."

GO SENS GO!!!