Return Of The Spezza: Ottawa Senators Host Dallas Stars
Jason Spezza and the Dallas Stars come to town for a game that many Senators fans surely have circled on their calendar.
Dallas Stars (21-19-7)
VS
Ottawa Senators (19-18-9)
7:30 PM
Canadian Tire Centre
TV: TSN 5, RDS 2, Radio: TSN Team 1200
MATCHUP HISTORY
Last time the two clubs met, the Sens managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory after surrendering a two goal lead built in the first period to ultimately lose 5-4 in overtime. This will be the second and last meeting of the season.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Jason Spezza – This one’s obvious. It will be interesting to see which how this return effects Spezza’s game. Will the emotions get to him and take him out of the game? Or will he take this as an opportunity to show Senators fans that they should have been more grateful of his offensive dynamism?
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Kyle Turris & Clarke MacArthur – the PB&J of the Senators have been split up due to some stale play over the past 10 games are so. Both players and coach Cameron are hoping that getting some new line-mates and divvying up the offence will lead to a stronger team game that a spotty Dallas defence will have trouble defending against.
THREE KEYS TO THE GAME
1. Special Teams Supremacy: Surprisingly Ottawa is in the top ten (No.9 to be exact) in the league in penalty killing, and 19th for the powerplay. Dallas’ special teams have been fairly rotten all season long, and as a result they sit at 26th and 23rd in the league for powerplay and penalty killing respectively.
2. Stifle Spez: Ottawa has to keep Dallas’ 2nd line center at bay. The Stars have some impressive center depth, and the Sens are going to have to counter it with some depth of their own; hopefully the new lines can accomplish this.
3. Will the Lines Pay-off?: It will be interesting to see how the line changes Dave Cameron has instituted will affect the team. Will there be more balanced scoring? What line will Mike Hoffman fall on? We will see Thursday at the CTC.