1st East (46-22-11) VS.14th East (30-39-10)
Your Ottawa Senators battle the Philadelphia Flyers tonight in their second last home game of the season. With Ottawa coming off a loss to the hated Leafs on Saturday night, Ottawa will look to give the home crowd something to cheer about tonight. With only three games left in their season, Ottawa is playing for draft position and depending the outcome of these last three games, Ottawa will end up drafting between first to sixth in June.
Philly on the other hand is looking forward to a long playoff run. Currently holding down first in the conference, the Flyers have struggled with injuries and consistency as of late. With Chris Pronger and Danny Briere both out, Philly will be going into the playoffs shorthanded. The Flyers just want to get the season over with as quickly as possible without anymore injuries.
Craig Anderson will start for Ottawa and Roman Wick, Andre Benoit and Patrick Wiercioch have been called up to fill in for injured players. Here’s Ottawa’s line-up for tonight’s game.
Forwards: Defence:
Michalek – Spezza – Butler Phillips – Lee
Foligno – Smith – Neil Kuba – Benoit
Condra – Da Costa – Shannon Hale – Weircoich
Lessard – Winchester – Wick
Goaltenders: Anderson, McElhinney
Players to Watch
Ottawa – Jason Spezza has 30 points in his last 27 games since returning from a shoulder injury in early February. One of the league’s hottest players in the last two months, Spezza has been leading this team in the absence of other star players. With 19 goals on the season, look for Spezza to try to notch his 20th of the year to get his sixth season with 20 goals or more in his NHL seven seasons.
Philadelphia – Claude Giroux has turned into one of Philly’s best young players. Currently leading the team with 74 points, Giroux has suited up for all 79 games this season and is centering the second line. Leading the team in powerplay goals and shorthanded goals, Ottawa will need to keep a close eye on him tonight.
Keys to an Ottawa Win
Get to Bobrovsky: having already beat Ottawa twice this year, Ottawa needs to get to this rookie early and often.
Rough stuff: these to teams have a rough history and it seems to come out every time they play each other. Ottawa cannot back down tonight or they will get bullied.
Special teams: Ottawa is ranked higher on both the powerplay and the penalty kill then Philly and must use the special teams to get the advantage over them as they are no match 5-on-5.
Check back here at SenShot after the game for a game recap. Enjoy the game and GO SENS GO!!!
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