Ottawa Senators Honour Alfredsson As They Host The New York Islanders

Having lost to the Islanders 3-2 in overtime on Tuesday, the Senators return home for the second game of a home-and-home series. The game marks a special night for the Senators as former longtime captain Daniel Alfredsson is set to return to the Senators to announce his retirement, and he will take part in the pregame skate.

Ottawa: 10-9-3-2

New York Islanders: 18-7-0-0

7:30 PM EST

CANADIAN TIRE CENTRE

OTTAWA

TV: TSN5, RDS; RADIO: TSN1200

MATCHUP HISTORY

The Senators faced the Isles for the first time this season last Tuesday, falling 3-2 in overtime. Isles forward Brock Nelson and defenseman Thomas Hickey led the way for their team with a goal and an assist each in the contest.Mike Hoffman and Clarke MacArthur broke out of scoring slumps with a goal each for the Senators. Last season, the Islanders won two of the three matches between the teams, winning 5-4 in a shootout on November 1 of 2013 and 2-1 in regulation on April 2, 2014. The Senators won the final game of the series on April 8 by a score of 4-1. Ex-Senators Jason Spezza and Ales Hemsky along with current captain Erik Karlsson had three points each against the Isles while Josh Bailey had three against the Sens.

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Brock Nelson, NYI: Nelson has been one of the biggest surprises of the season with 22 points in 25 games so far, including the Islanders’ first goal against the Senators two nights ago. He also currently leads his team in goals with 11, one up on John Tavares. His emergence gives New York yet another weapon among a deep group of forwards.

Clarke MacArthur, OTT: MacArthur had been quite cold after a hot start to the season, with only 1 goal in the 11 games before last Tuesday. Now that he’s managed to find the back of the net again, can he get on another roll? The Senators certainly need him to. Having Mark Stone playing well on his line’s right wing also helps, as we saw with his slick little pass to MacArthur for the Senators’ tying goal in the third period.

TOP 3 STORYLINES

1. ALFIE: Tonight will be a special one in Ottawa, as the Senators have mended the fence with the franchise’s all-time leading scorer, Daniel Alfredsson, so that he can come back and retire with the team he played 17 seasons for, including 13 as captain. Apparently the Senators wanted Alfie to play one shift in the game, but he declined. Instead, he will take part in the pre-game skate and take the ceremonial face-off before ending his career as a player. It’s great to see, especially after the messy divorce he and the team went through in the summer of 2013, and it won’t be too long before his number 11 is hanging from the rafters at the Canadian Tire Centre.

2. REINFORCEMENTS?: While we won’t know until later, there’s a good chance Senators defenseman Marc Methot could suit up for his first game of the season tonight. He’s been out all year with a nagging back injury, but coach Paul MacLean has said he is very close to returning. Winger Bobby Ryan, out with a broken finger, could also play as he was a gameday decision on Tuesday.

3. DEFENSIVE STRUGGLES: The Senators were once again outshot last Tuesday, allowing 28 shots while generating only 18 of their own. The Islanders controlled the play for long stretches of the game as the Senators were often running ragged in their own end and chasing the play. That has to stop if they want to get back into a playoff position. They need to be more assertive retrieving the puck and break out of their own end as a five man unit, as opposed to their tendency to dump the puck to centre or just hope Erik Karlsson can carry it into the offensive zone on his own. This is going to require commitment from the forwards and the defense, as well as perhaps some adjustments from the coaching staff to their thus far lackluster system.

PROJECTED LINEUPS

As per the Senators’ website, and assuming Methot and Ryan don’t play, they are:

SENATORS

Clarke MacArthur – Kyle Turris – Mark Stone

Mike Hoffman – Mika Zibanejad – Alex Chiasson

Erik Condra – David Legwand – Chris Neil

Milan Michalek – Zack Smith – Curtis Lazar

Chris Phillips – Erik Karlsson

Jared Cowen – Cody Ceci

Mark Borowiecki – Eric Gryba

Craig Anderson

Andrew Hammond

Scratched Patrick Wiercioch, Colin Greening

Injured: Bobby Ryan (finger), Marc Methot (leg), Robin Lehner (undisclosed)

Though it seems like Methot will play:

ISLANDERS

Nikolay Kulemin – John Tavares – Kyle Okposo

Mikhail Grabovski – Frans Nielsen – Josh Bailey

Anders Lee – Brock Nelson – Ryan Strome

Matt Martin – Casey Cizikas – Cal Clutterbuck

Matt Donovan – Nick Leddy

Calvin de Haan – Griffin Reinhart

Brian Strait – Thomas Hickey

Jaroslav Halak

Chad Johnson

Scratched: Cory Conacher

Injured: Michael Grabner (lower body), Eric Boulton (lower body), Matt Carkner (back), Johnny Boychuk (upper body), Lubomir Visnovsky (upper body), Travis Hamonic (upper body).

Thanks for reading, and enjoy the game!