In the first of a back-to-back games, the Ottawa Senators will attempt to snap their 3-game losing streak against the New York Islanders tonight. The Senators welcome back their captain Daniel Aflredsson who missed the last game with a groin injury. Alfie says that he is ready to go and we can rest assured that neither GM Bryan Murray or coach John Paddock would rush him back to the lineup this early in the season. We saw what a nagging injury can do to a player when Wade Redden tweaked his groin early in the season and never really bounced back from it.
Redden has regained his old form this year and appears less tentative to play the body in the corners. He has finally been rewarded in the past few game recording 4 points in the past 3 games. His 3 goals this year have all come with the man advantage.
With the loss to Patrick Eaves the Sens are in desperate need to find some secondary scoring. Mike Fisher (0 points in 5 games with a -7 rating), Antoine Vermette (1 point in 8 games with a -7 rating) and Chris Kelly (2 points in 8 games with -5 rating) really need to pull their weight offensively. They are all average over 16 minutes a game and are all vital pieces to the Sens’ secondary offense.
A few game notes for tonight:
- Daniel Alfredsson will return to the lineup
- Martin Gerber will sit out tonight and Ray Emery will get the start. No word if Paddock is simply splitting time between the two because of games on back-to-back nights
- The Sens have recalled Nick Foligno, who had 5 assists in 6 games with the Binghamton Senators and assigned Andrei Nikulin to the AHL team
Senators expected lineup:
Heatley-Spezza-Alfredsson
Robitaille-Fisher-Neil
Kelly- Vermette-Foligno
Schubert-McAmmond-Donovan
Phillips-Volchenkov
Meszaros-Redden
Corvo-Richardson
Emery
Gerber
