GAME DAY #41: Panthers @ Senators - 7:30 pm - Thursday, Jan 7 2016

Here we go, the half-way point. Tuesday night everyone we're chasing (or are chasing us) lost, except for the Pathers, who extended their franchise record with their 10th straight win. Montreal, Boston and Tampa lost in regulation and Pittsburgh lost in OT. Last night Montreal beat New Jersey and Pittsburgh lost to Chicago, both games in regulation.

So as it stands now, the Sens are tied with Boston for the last wildcard spot, the Bruins with 2 games in hand. They have one game in hand on the Devils, who are 1 point up in the first wildcard spot. With that regulation loss the Penguins are still 1 point back of the Sens, but they no-longer have a game in hand. Tampa is 2 points back.

Looking up beyond the wildcard positions, the Sens are 3 points back of Detroit and 5 back of Montreal; they hold 2 games in hand over the Habs; Price has not yet been cleared to skate. They are 8 points back of tonight's opponent, the Atlantic Division leading Florida Panthers. 8 points before the All Star break? Pfft, that's nothing.

Anyhow, important game. Florida has won 10 in a row so they're bound to lose sooner or later, might as well be tonight.

GO SENS GO!!!

Florida's due for a big ol' L. will need to be at the top of his game (assuming he starts).

Hopefully we carry over some momentum from that awesome victory in St. Louis.

Massively important game if we're going to turn it around.

tim1_2 wrote:Florida's due for a big ol' L.   will need to be at the top of his game (assuming he starts).  

Hopefully we carry over some momentum from that awesome victory in St. Louis.

I guarantee they'll start Andy. Just keep him away from the frozen chicken.

Here's the morning skate lines:

Ryan-Turris-Stone
Hoffman-Zibanejad-Michalek
McCormick-Pageau-Lazar
Prince-Smith-Neil

Prince in for Chiasson. Yay.

Claesson-Karlsson
Wiercioch-Ceci
Methot-Borowiecki

Wideman and Cowen scratched.

Anderson to start.


I gotta say I don't really like moving Methot away from Karlsson, but will be excited to see Claesson get lots of ice time if that's what happens.

tim1_2 wrote:Here's the morning skate lines:

Ryan-Turris-Stone
Hoffman-Zibanejad-Michalek
McCormick-Pageau-Lazar
Prince-Smith-Neil

Prince in for Chiasson.  Yay.

Claesson-Karlsson
Wiercioch-Ceci
Methot-Borowiecki

Wideman and Cowen scratched.

Anderson to start.


I gotta say I don't really like moving Methot away from Karlsson, but will be excited to see Claesson get lots of ice time if that's what happens.

I like these lines. The return of Michalek really helped balance things out. Now Zibanejad had two legit players to work with, so hopefully that gets him on a roll.

I also wouldn't really read too much into Claesson with Karlsson. I think he'll take reps there, but don't forget Karlsson takes 2 out of every 4 shifts, so there's overlap. I'd say Methot plays there regularly during a game and Claesson takes the other reps with Karlsson.

I like it...the only change I'd make personally is Wiercioch out and Wideman in, then you can play Claesson with Ceci and Boro with Wideman - ie, a puckmover on every pairing, but w/e.

I'd have even gone as far as to scratch BoroCop to keep Wideman in...and pairing him with Methot would be cool. Anyway, yeah, I like the lineup too. Two points, here we come!

tim1_2 wrote:Here's the morning skate lines:

Ryan-Turris-Stone
Hoffman-Zibanejad-Michalek
McCormick-Pageau-Lazar
Prince-Smith-Neil

Prince in for Chiasson.  Yay.

Claesson-Karlsson
Wiercioch-Ceci
Methot-Borowiecki

Wideman and Cowen scratched.

Anderson to start.


I gotta say I don't really like moving Methot away from Karlsson, but will be excited to see Claesson get lots of ice time if that's what happens.

More like McCormick in for Chiasson as Prince is on the 4th line.

As for Methot, this will allow him to be on the 1st PK unit which is essential for this team. Too bad they continue to insist on playing Borowiecki on his wrong side. Other than that, I'm pretty happy with the lineup. Michalek should be raring to go after being off for over a month.

wprager wrote:

tim1_2 wrote:Here's the morning skate lines:

Ryan-Turris-Stone
Hoffman-Zibanejad-Michalek
McCormick-Pageau-Lazar
Prince-Smith-Neil

Prince in for Chiasson.  Yay.

Claesson-Karlsson
Wiercioch-Ceci
Methot-Borowiecki

Wideman and Cowen scratched.

Anderson to start.


I gotta say I don't really like moving Methot away from Karlsson, but will be excited to see Claesson get lots of ice time if that's what happens.

More like McCormick in for Chiasson as Prince is on the 4th line.

As for Methot, this will allow him to be on the 1st PK unit which is essential for this team.  Too bad they continue to insist on playing Borowiecki on his wrong side.  Other than that, I'm pretty happy with the lineup.  Michalek should be raring to go after being off for over a month.

Why do you say that? Why wouldn't he be the #1 PK guy anyway?

Because if Meth is stapled to Karlsson's hip he's going to play too many ES minutes to have anything left for the PK. This is a team that takes a lot of penalties and does not draw many. If it was the other way around then that would be very different.

Memory lane time:



No, that's not Michalek.  It's actually #49, Jeremy Jablonski.

More recent memory lane stuff -- Cowen suspended 3 games for this "interference" on Jussi Jokinen:

What. Just. Happened?

More than half way through the period the Panthers get their first two shots on goal, both go in, 8 seconds apart.

Lots of time to mount the comeback!