Sens and Devils play a home and home weekend series kicking off this evening at the Arena and concluding Sunday afternoon in Albany. Senators will be looking to make it three straight wins as the Devils are coming off a 4-3 shootout loss in Hershey last Sunday. Andrew Hammond (11-7-3 3.20) will get his third straight start in goal while Nathan Lawson is still out nursing a lower body injury. Albany will most likely counter with Keith Kinkaid (16-7-1 2.17) in net for the Devils. The B-Sens East Division lead is one over W/B-Scranton, who are on the road for a pair of games this weekend in Norfolk.
(25-12-0-3) 53 pts
/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter#sthash.eiDTkNPD.dpuf(8-4-0-0) 16 pts
First in East Division
VS.
(23-11-3-3) 52 pts
Second in NorthEast Division
Projected Lineup
Hoffman-Pageau-Schneider
Prince-O’Brien-Petersson
Puempel-Grant-Robinson
Cowick-Hamilton-Dziurzynski
Borowiecki-New
Sdao-Claesson
Eckford-Wideman
Hammond / Greenham
Scratches
Injured Reserve: Goaltender Lawson, lower body.
Healthy: Forward Darren Kramer, Defenseman Ben Blood.
Notes
- With Stephane Da Costa up with the big club, Jean-Gabriel Pageau takes his spot centering on the first line. Pager has three assists in two games since his return from Ottawa. Mark Stone is out with injury.
- Lawson was on ice for a limited practice session this past week but will most likely not suit up for any of this weekend’s games. Nathan is coming off a muscle strain that he suffered against Adirondack last weekend but is close on returning. No sense of rushing him back as long as Hammond continues to play well.
- Binghamton has scored 12 goals in their last two games to raise their goal per game average to 3.63, just behind the Texas Stars at 3.67 . Albany is in the seventh slot averaging 3.20.
- Mike Hoffman remains in second place with 45 points and Fredrik Claesson‘s +27 is one behind Andrew Bodnarchuk for first, however his three shorthanded points currently leads all other defensemen. Jim O’Brien and Cole Schneider are tied with each other leading the league in shorthanded points with five each.
- Forward Cam Janssen cleared waivers on Tuesday and was assigned to Albany by their parent club in New Jersey.
- As we have passed the half way point of the season, my emphasis will now start to shift towards making the playoffs. So, as the current playoff picture sits right now, it’s the Devils in fifth place in the Eastern Conference, one point behind the third place Senators with each club having played 40 games. It’s a big weekend as points are up for grabs between the two I-88 interstate rivals as we inch further to the ultimate goal, winning the Calder Cup. (This is where the fun level takes it up a notch or two in my book.)
Players To Watch For
Albany: Forwards Joe Whitney (16g 20a 40gms) and Mike Sislo (11g 12a 30gms), Defenseman Raman Hrabarenka (3g 12a 27gms).
Binghamton: Forwards Hoffman (13g 10a 31gms) and Pageau (6g 13a 17gms), Defenseman Chris Wideman (5g 24a 38gms).
Season Results
Senators and Devils have split two games played with each winning one as this will be the third straight meeting in Bingo between the two clubs. The remaining three tilts will shift to the Times Union Center in Albany.
Sens Tweet of the Day
AP20's nob. ™ #lacey pic.twitter.com/rxFrMAfrAy
— Derek Grant (@DGrant57) January 17, 2014
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