Ottawa Senators Look For First Win As They Head To Vancouver

The Ottawa Senators are heading out west for their first away game of the season tonight. They will look for their first win of the season when they take on the Vancouver Canucks.

The past two games have seen the Sens get points but fall in a shootout twice. Although points are nice, this Ottawa Senators team will begin to start adding to the win column. However, they won’t be without adversity as injuries have plagued the team to start the season.

Forward

At forward the Sens currently have: Derick Brassard, Lagan Brown, Alex Burrows, Ryan Dzingel, Alex Formenton, Mike Hoffman, Jean-Gabriel Pageau, Tom Pyatt, Bobby Ryan, Zack Smith, Mark Stone, Nate Thompson, and Kyle Turris.

Defence

On defence they have the following defencemen available: Mark Borowiecki, Cody Ceci, Thomas Chabot, Fredrik Claesson, Christian Jaros, Dion Phaneuf, and Chris Wideman.

Goal

In goal it’s likely that Craig Anderson will get the call to start once again with Mike Condon serving as his backup.

Injuries And Recalls

The story for the Sens this season has been that of injuries. Erik Karlsson has been out since the start of the season and will not play tonight. Johnny Oduya went down in the season opener and was replaced by Ben Harpur Saturday against Detroit. Unfortunately Harpur went down as soon as he arrived. As a result the Sens have recalled Thomas Chabot and Christian Jaros.

Chabot is the likely replacement for Harpur with Jaros likely being an emergency option. This will be an opportunity for Chabot to claim a spot in the lineup that he lost near the end of the pre-season.

An issue for the game tonight is the status of Mike Hoffman. He was unable to attend practice yesterday because he got the flu. If he is unavailable it’s a huge hit to the offensive capabilities of the team. If he’s out it likely means that both Brown and Formenton will get into the lineup. However, Boucher has said that there’s a possibility that he will play seven defencemen. This would mean Jaros comin in and one of either Brown or Formenton sitting.

Next: Ottawa Senators: Chabot And Jaros Recalled In Wake Of Injuries

Getting Into The Win Column

The Ottawa Senators have stayed afloat by losing after regulation the first two games of the season. However, they’ll need to get wins on the board to keep up down the road. Winning against a bottom feeding team such as Vancouver is a must.