Ottawa Senators And Florida Panthers Game Preview
The Senators come in to Florida looking to work off of what was arguably their best game of the season against the St. Louis Blues.
Ottawa: 10-7-4
VS
Florida: 8-6-6
7:30pm
BB&T Center
Florida
TV: RDS2, TSN5; Radio: TSN 1200
Match-up History
The Senators and Panthers met when both teams played their third game of the season earlier this year. Clarke MacArthur scored the game’s only goal, getting the Sens the ‘W’ and blanking the Big Cats 1-0.
Last Games
The two teams have a nearly identical record through most of the month of November. Both clubs are middling, with Ottawa sporting a 5-5-2 record to the Panthers’ minutely better 5-4-3.
Both teams are also looking to build off recent wins.
The Senators played one of their best games of the season against a powerhouse Blues team, coming from behind to tie the game and ultimately win it 4-3 via shootout. Milan Michalek and Mika Zibanejad were surprisingly scratched in favour of Colin Greening and Erik Condra. The moves ultimately payed off as Condra scored a goal and had two others waved off (referred to on twitter as an “Erik Condra Hat-Trick”) to help get the team back into the game and played what was likely his best game in quite some time.
The Panthers come in having downed the Carolina Hurricanes 1-0 on a goal by Nick Bjugstad. In that game goalie Roberto Luongo was the victim of what the team is calling an upper body injury, although there was no specific play that seems to cause it, as Luongo took himself out of the game at 10:22 of the second period. No word yet on how substantial the injury was, and although he has not been ruled out for tonight’s contest it seems unlikely he will play.
Players to Watch
Nick Bjugstad: Florida’s pivot has 8 goals and 12 points on the season. He comes in with 5 points in the last four games, with 4 of those points being goals. He’s a big body with skill that’s hard to contain, so Ottawa’s defence is going to have to be extra mindful when he’s on the ice, but thankfully at 6’6″ and 218lbs he’s hard to miss.
Bobby Ryan: Ryan’s game has really come on over the past few contests. Much more noticeable than early on in the season, he’s involved in plays at both ends of the ice and his hustle is evident, even though he has yet to reap the rewards on the scoresheet. Bobby will look to continue this type of play against a Panthers team that isn’t known to be one of the stronger teams in the East. Hopefully he’s able to take advantage and get himself on the score-sheet a little more in this one.
3 Story-lines for the Game
Who Sits? — This was posted before the official night’s lineups were announced, but regardless of who actually ends up suiting up for the Sens there’ll be questions as to whether they were good moves or not. Condra played a whale of a game against a tough Blues team, scoring a goal and making a statement that sitting him as much as Maclean has throughout the early goings of the season may not have been the best choice. I’d be surprised to see him sitting against the Panthers, but then who sits out? Personally I haven’t seen enough from Greening in any game he’s played this season to really vouch for him in place of anyone else, so I see Zibanejad in for Greening, and Milan Michalek still in the press box.
Turn the Quarter — After reaching the quarter mark of the season with a record that’s admittedly better looking than much of Ottawa’s play has deserved, I’d like to think that more consistency might be around the corner for this team, especially if they can replicate the kind of effort they displayed against St. Louis on Tuesday.
11:11 — This isn’t much of a game note, but I’m hoping that with announcement that Alfie is coming to the CTC on December 4th to presumably announce his retirement (and hopefully his joining the Senators’ staff in some capacity) that those fans at home watching the game will start their own chant at the 11 minute mark of every period.