The Wrong Idea against Flo-RI-Da

Tonight, the Ottawa Senators play their last home game before the big road trip, hosting the Florida Panthers. The last time these two teams tangled up, Ottawa ran away with a 4-3 victory, courtesy of Jarkko Ruutu, who scored the winning goal late in the 2nd. Brian Elliott walked away with the victory, so it looks like Cory Clouston will go with the same winning formula, as Elliott will get the start tonight. I expected Leclaire to go in and then Elliott tomorrow agains Carolina, but it seems the Coach has better plans. Maybe it involves putting Snoopy against the worst team in the NHL and somewhat boosting his confidence.

As reported by Bruce Garrioch yesterday, Martin St.Pierre and Zack Smith, call-ups from Binghamton will play tonight on the fourth line in place of Shean Donovan. Meanwhile, Chris Campoli is back in on the third pairing with Matt Carkner while Alexandre Picard gets the day off. Seemingly, these two are playing a game of chicken, and it just frustrates me that neither has stepped up to the plate and taken that 6th spot on defense. They need to pick it up before time runs out for both of them.

The Shannon-Fisher-Kovalev line has lost steam these last two games, and have scored 0 goals. If they can’t pick it up from where they left off almost a week ago, then Clouston will likely take out Ryan Shannon off that first line. That’s why I think Mike Fisher will have a big game tonight. He’s lsot his touch since being left off Canada’s Olympic Team, and even though he is still playing good defensively for a forward, he’s not scoring those big-time goals we saw him score earlier this season. Let’s hope he comes back into form.

3-1 Sens tonight. A pair from Fisher and a single from Kelly. Book it!

GO SENS GO!!!