BOSTON -- Although they're riding a six-game winning streak into tonight's game against the Bruins at TD Garden, the Ottawa Senators know this might be their stiffest test yet.

Of their six victories, only one came against a team that qualified for the 2011 Stanley Cup Playoffs. And the 7-5-0 Senators this season are just 1-3-0 against last spring's playoff participants.

So Ottawa isn't looking at tonight's game as if it's against a 3-7-0 also-ran.

"It's a benchmark game for sure," said center Jason Spezza after his team's morning skate. "They're, we think, one of the best teams in the East. I don't care what the standings say, they're Stanley Cup champions and have some great players and three deep lines and six real good defensemen and one of the best goalies in the League. So this isn't a team you take lightly. This is an arena that's hard to come in to play in. They clog things up and make it hard on you. And for us we just have to make sure we're on the top of our game tonight or else, they'll make it a long night for you."

Coach Paul MacLean is confident his team is aware of the challenge ahead.

"We shouldn't have to remind them of that because we are playing the Stanley Cup champs and as soon as you walk into the building or you look at anything, the press notes and the banners, it all says Stanley Cup champions, and that's very well deserved," MacLean said. "No matter what their record is, they're still the Stanley Cup champions and we know we're going to get a good game. We know that we have to be at our best to have an opportunity to win this game."

With Kaspars Daugavins re-assigned to the Binghamton (AHL) farm club after Sunday's win at Toronto, Erik Condra skated in his place on the third line during the morning skate. Zenon Konopka should dress and skate on the fourth line after he was a healthy scratch against the Maple Leafs.

Here's the Senators' projected lineup:

Milan Michalek - Jason Spezza - Colin Greening
Nick Foligno - Stephane Da Costa - Bobby Butler
Erik Condra - Zack Smith - Chris Neil
Zenon Konopka - Jesse Winchester - Nikita Filatov

Filip Kuba - Erik Karlsson
Jared Cowen - Sergei Gonchar
Chris Phillips - David Rundblad

Craig Anderson was given the night off in Toronto, so he figures to be back between the pipes. He had played in the prior six Senators games.

BOSTON -- At the start of Saturday night's loss at Montreal, the Bruins made their first major shake-up of their defensive pairs since the start of the season.

By the end of the game, coach Claude Julien and his staff had jumbled the Bruins' blueliners again.

Zdeno Chara started out the night playing with Dennis Seidenberg, but finished next to Joe Corvo. Corvo had begun the night with Adam McQuaid, who was paired with Andrew Ference for most of the second half. Johnny Boychuk went from playing with Ference to skating next to Seidenberg from the second period on.

Such is life on a 3-7-0 team that's searching for any type of spark to turn its season around.

"It kind of gives you a sense that maybe they're still trying to search for the right combination," Corvo said after Boston's optional morning skate at TD Garden in preparation for tonight's game against Ottawa. "And also, it kind of gives you a sense that maybe they're not that happy with the pairings or they don't feel like they're the right situations for guys. I would say until things start to go well, we put some wins together and some guys have played with the same guys, then you'll see more solidified pairings."

The Bruins went awhile last season without set pairs. And when they needed to turn things around in the playoffs, they made one switch (led by the pairing of Chara and Seidenberg), which they stuck with until they hoisted the Stanley Cup.

Boychuk says it's a conquerable challenge dealing with changed-up pairs.

"Everybody's just playing with everybody. It hasn't been too bad, chemistry-wise," he said. "We know that we can play with each other. You just make sure, who you're playing with … if you're playing with different guys, different guys have different tendencies and you've just to make sure you remember who you're playing with."

Only a few Bruins skated this morning, but here's what their lineup should look like:

Milan Lucic - David Krejci - Nathan Horton
Brad Marchand - Patrice Bergeron - Tyler Seguin
Jordan Caron - Chris Kelly - Rich Peverley
Daniel Paille - Gregory Campbell - Shawn Thornton

Zdeno Chara - Joe Corvo
Dennis Seidenberg - Johnny Boychuk
Andrew Ference - Adam McQuaid

Tim Thomas should get the start after Tuukka Rask played Saturday night in Montreal.

 

The Philadelphia Flyers today called up forwards Ben Holmstrom and Harry Zolnierczyk from AHL Adirondack, and they'll play Wednesday in place of forwards Danny Briere and Matt Read, who are out with upper-body injuries.

Briere sat out Saturday's game against Carolina, and while he definitely won't play tomorrow against the Sabres, there's a chance he could play Thursday against the Devils. Read won't play again until Saturday's game against Columbus, at the earliest.

Holmstrom, a 24-year-old center, was scoreless in two games with the Flyers last season. He had 4 assists and a minus-3 rating in eight AHL games.

Zolnierczyk, a 24-year-old left wing, had a goal in his first NHL game, Oct. 18 against Ottawa. In 10 AHL games, he has 5 goals and 4 assists.

The Flyers also sent defenseman Matt Walker to the AHL. Walker had been waived Oct. 4 but after clearing waivers never was sent down. He was scoreless in three games, with a minus-2 rating and 16 penalty minutes.

Flyers General Manager Paul Holmgren also said the plan for tomorrow was to have defenseman Chris Pronger skate by himself, the first time he'll be on the ice since suffering an injury to his right eye Oct. 24. Holmgren had said the night of the injury that the hope was Pronger could return to skating within 7-10 days and rejoin the team within 2-3 weeks.

Contact Adam Kimelman at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter: @NHLAdamK

WASHINGTON -- Here are the projected lineups for the Washington Capitals and Anaheim Ducks heading into tonight's game (7:30 p.m. ET, Versus, TSN2). Both teams hope to end respective mini-slides -- after winning seven straight to open the season the Caps have dropped two in a row, while the Ducks are 1-4-1 in their last six.

These teams played two dramatically different contests last season -- Anaheim won a tight-checking, 2-1 contest in overtime at Verizon Center, while the Capitals won a wild 7-6 decision at Honda Center.

CAPITALS
Alex Ovechkin - Nicklas Backstrom - Troy Brouwer
Jason Chimera - Marcus Johansson - Alexander Semin
Matt Hendricks - Brooks Laich - Joel Ward
Cody Eakin - Mathieu Perreault - Mike Knuble

Karl Alzner - John Carlson
Roman Hamrlik - Dennis Wideman
Jeff Schultz - John Erskine

Tomas Vokoun will start in goal, with Michal Neuvirth the backup.

Mike Green skated for the first time since taking a shot to the face and landing awkwardly on his ankle, but he is not ready to play yet. Erskine had offseason shoulder surgery and will make his season debut tonight.

If Eakin plays instead of Jeff Halpern, it would be his NHL debut. Knuble skated on the fourth line in practice Monday.

DUCKS
Bobby Ryan - Ryan Getzlaf - Corey Perry
Andrew Cogliano - Saku Koivu - Teemu Selanne
Brandon McMillan - Nick Bonino - Andrew Gordon
Matt Beleskey - Maxime Macenauer - Devante Smith-Pelly

Francois Beauchemin - Cam Fowler
Toni Lydman - Lubomir Visnovsky
Luca Sbisa - Sheldon Brookbank

Jonas Hiller will start in goal, with Dan Ellis the backup.

Coach Randy Carlyle is going to shake up his forward lines as the search for more offense continues. The bottom two lines have combined for only two goals in 11 games, and everyone on the roster not named Ryan, Getzlaf, Perry or Selanne have combined for six. This would be Bonino’s season debut with the Ducks -- he has played 35 games for them during the past two seasons. Parros could play in place of Smith-Pelly on the fourth line.

For more on tonight's game, check out the preview here.

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Here's what the lineups could look like for the Hurricanes and Lightning when they meet tonight in Carolina.

There's one lineup change for Tampa Bay, as Mattias Ritola takes the place of Tom Pyatt, centering the fourth line.


LIGHTNING
Ryan Malone - Steven Stamkos - Teddy Purcell
Brett Connolly - Vincent Lecavalier - Martin St. Louis
Ryan Shannon - Dominic Moore - Steve Downie
Nate Thompson - Mattias Ritola - Adam Hall

Pavel Kubina - Brett Clark
Eric Brewer - Victor Hedman
Marc-Andre Bergeron - Matt Gilroy

Dwayne Roloson will start in goal, with Mathieu Garon the backup.

HURRICANES
Jiri Tlusty - Eric Staal - Chad LaRose
Jeff Skinner - Jussi Jokinen - Tuomo Ruutu
Alexei Ponikarovsky - Brandon Sutter - Patrick Dwyer
Zach Boychuk - Tim Brent - Anthony Stewart

Tim Gleason - Bryan Allen
Jay Harrison - Joni Pitkanen
Tomas Kaberle - Jamie McBain

Cam Ward will start in goal, with Brian Boucher the backup.

For on tonight's game, check out the preview here.

If there was any question of the future plans for 2012 top draft eligible prospect Zemgus Girgensons, the 6-foot-1 Latvian did his best to answer them this week.

In an interview with hockey blogger Ryan S. Clark of 'Slightly Chilled', Girgensons of the Dubuque Fighting Saints in the United States Hockey League said he doesn't see himself playing in the Canadian Hockey League.

Girgensons, committed to the University of Vermont for the fall of 2012, was also drafted 45th overall by the Kelowna Rockets during the CHL Import Draft and was taken in the second round of the KHL Junior Draft by CSKA Moscow.

"You know, first of all I don't see my future in the CHL," Girgensons told Clark. "I talked with other CHL teams that were interested in me. I thought about the (Quebec Major Junior Hockey League) and the Quebec Remparts (where fellow blue chip prospect Mikhail Grigorenko stars), but Kelowna drafted me and didn't say anything to me about it. After that, I felt they disrespected me a little bit. They pushed it a little bit onto my adviser and I don't think he really liked it."

Girgensons finished third overall on Dubuque with 49 points, including 21 goals, in 51 games last season and was selected to the mid-season Western Conference All-Stars. Through nine games this season, Girgensons has 6 goals, including 3 game-winners, 13 points and a plus-2 rating.

Adding coal to the fire was a blog that Clark pointed to which specializes in news out of the Western Hockey League. The outlet, 'DubNation', quoted Rockets owner and general manager Bruce Hamilton when asked about Girgensons.

"His agents think (Dubuque) is where he should be playing and he's very loyal to that program but I know as soon as he's drafted, the NHL team is not going to want him in Dubuque and they're not going to want him going to the University of Vermont, either," Hamilton told DubNation. "We'll have a real good opportunity to have him here for sure next year, and potentially after Christmas this year. When the Latvian team plays in the world juniors, we'll be very aggressive again there."

Girgensons represented Latvia at the 2010 World Under-18 Championships, notching two assists in six games.

Dubuque coach Jim Montgomery, a collegiate standout at the University of Maine, responded this way:

"First of all, I was wondering how he could be tampering with a player that plays with another junior team in the middle of the season. I was also wondering about his ethics and why would you want to try and approach someone trying to win a gold medal for his nation," Montgomery told 'Slightly Chilled'. "Being a Canadian, he should know how important it is to win a gold medal. If junior hockey is coming to this type of level where you're going to bother someone while they’re trying to win a gold medal for his country speaks volumes about the integrity of some of the people in junior hockey. I know for a fact that (Girgensons) hasn't spoken to an adviser and (Girgensons' adviser) hasn'’t spoken to the kid either. He's defending his draft pick and that's why he's putting a positive spin on it as possible. Really, he's making himself look like he's unethical."

Girgensons was also perturbed by Hamilton's comments, according to 'Slightly Chilled.'

"I don't think it was a great move by them," Girgensons said. "If they had said 'We support his decision to go to Vermont', that would have been fine but they said I should not go there. They disrespected my thoughts and I felt like they didn't even trust me."

Follow Mike Morreale on Twitter at: @mike_morreale

At 19:10 of the third period in the Jets/Panthers game, video review confirmed the referees call on the ice that Winnipeg Jets forward Evander Kane hit the puck with his stick below the crossbar into the net. Referee Tom Kowal conferred with the other three officials on the ice before going to video review, which is normal practice when there is a question of a goal being scored by a high stick, the officials concluded that Kane's stick was below the crossbar when he hit the puck. Video Review confirmed this call. Good Goal Winnipeg.

NEW YORK -- Sean Avery could be back with the Rangers in time for Thursday's home game against the Anaheim Ducks, and coach John Tortorella can't wait to have him.

The Rangers put Avery on re-entry waivers Monday at noon, less than a month after he was banished to the Connecticut Whale of the AHL before the season. Avery will stay on waivers for 24 hours, giving every team in the League a chance to claim him. If he goes unclaimed, he'll replace the injured Michael Rupp, whose long-term health is in question due to a nagging knee injury, on the Rangers' fourth line.

"Rupper has a lot to do with this. We're concerned about that," Tortorella said. "This is the right decision. It's the right hockey decision now and it was the right hockey decision when we sent Sean down. That's where it's at."

Rupp met with doctors Monday at about 3 p.m., according to Tortorella, who had not received word of Rupp's prognosis when he spoke with the media at about 5 p.m.

Avery won't be available for Monday night's game vs. the Sharks, but it's likely he'll be on the minds of fans at Madison Square Garden.

In the home opener against the Maple Leafs, a banner hung at the Garden asking the Rangers to bring back Avery. In that game and in the next one against the Senators, chants of "We Want Avery" rang out at different points.

But the fan favorite fell out of favor with the Rangers. Avery's propensity for taking penalties began to outweigh his ability to draw them and create offense. Now that he's back, Tortorella wants Avery to once again attempt to toe the line.

"Sean's biggest strength are his legs. He's a terrific skater," Tortorella said. "A big part of his game is his forechecking and his play underneath the hashmarks. We want him to play to his strengths and also work on the other parts of the game away from the puck."

In two games with the Whale, Avery had 1 goal and 7 penalty minutes. He missed time to start the season due to a shoulder injury.

Follow Dave Lozo on Twitter: @DaveLozo

CHICAGO -- Consider Nashville Predators coach Barry Trotz a fan of the moves the Central Division rival Chicago Blackhawks pulled off last summer.

While keeping their "core group" of young stars intact, the Blackhawks added a handful of quality veterans through free agency and trade -- almost all on one-year contracts -- and Trotz said the difference is noticeable in how the new-look Hawks play.

His team will get an up-close look at Chicago on Monday night when the Preds face off against the Hawks at the United Center.

"I love the changes they made," Trotz said after Nashville's Monday morning skate. "I love the character they brought in. They brought in some grit and fire in some of their role players. I think they filled-in very nicely. Two teams in the summer filled-in the best in terms of free agency and that (was) the Blackhawks and (San Jose Sharks). Those two teams fit a lot of the right pieces."

One of those pieces Chicago added is 38-year old top-six forward Andrew Brunette, who played for Trotz both in the minors and for one season in Nashville (1998-99). Trotz was asked about Brunette on Monday and had glowing remarks.

"One of my all-time favorite guys," he said. "As he says, he's the best guy that can't skate in the League. For a guy who 'couldn’t skate' in the National Hockey League, he's had a (long) career and he's fantastic in the room. He's a rink rat, even as he's getting into his late 30s. He loves the game. He will be a good coach someday, guaranteed. He's just too passionate about the game."

CHICAGO -- He's known for playing stellar defense, which is why Chicago Blackhawks center Dave Bolland is a key figure of the team's top-ranked penalty-killing unit coming into Monday night's game against the Nashville Predators.

His offensive skills often get overshadowed, but he's found at least one way to really showcase both sides of his game -- scoring shorthanded goals. Bolland's 5 goals tie him with Marian Hossa for the team lead, and two have come while playing with just four skaters on the ice.

His latest shorty came against the Columbus Blue Jackets this past weekend, when he darted up ice to set up a breakaway after a great shot block and pass by Michael Frolik from inside the Chicago blue line.

Bolland broke in on goalie Allen York and slid a backhand shot just inside the left post while being hooked to the ice. It happened late in the first period and gave Chicago momentum back after the Blue Jackets had tied the game 1-1 earlier in the period.

The Hawks now have three shorthanded goals in the first 10 games of the season -- the other was scored by Hossa -- and it's helping make up for a power play that's potted just four goals in 38 opportunities coming into Monday night's game against the Nashville Predators.

"Those are huge lifts for you," Hawks coach Joel Quenneville said of shorthanded goals. "A lot of nights, if you score shorthanded or you kill a 5-on-3, you're going to come out on the winning side of it. When you are able to cash in, it's a huge bonus. It deflates the other team."

As for Bolland's penchant for putting the puck in the net a man down?

"He anticipates really well and he's got some quickness," Quenneville said. "He's got some deceptiveness and he's out there a lot of the time on the PK … so, sometimes you can counter punch 'em."