Senators look for better showing against Ducks

Friday, 10.25.2013 / 1:00 PM

By Sean Farrell - NHL.com Correspondent / 2013-2014 At the Rink Blog

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OTTAWA -- The Ottawa Senators have recent momentum on their side as they get ready to complete their season series against the Anaheim Ducks.

The Senators came up with their strongest effort to date in a 6-1 win Wednesday at the Detroit Red Wings in their first game against former captain Daniel Alfredsson.

Ottawa has won three of its past four games, but the Senators were at low tide when they faced the Ducks on Oct. 13, losing 4-1 in Bobby Ryan's first game back in Anaheim to drop their record to 1-2-2 on their season-opening six-game road trip.

"They took advantage of us not being very sharp," said captain Jason Spezza, who scored twice Wednesday. "We know they lost [Thursday] so they're going to come with a bit of a burr [Friday] too. They're too good a team and good teams always talk about not losing two in a row, so we know they're going to give a good effort, but we feel like we have much better to show them and we hope we can give them a better game [Friday]."

The Ducks held a lightly attended optional skate at Canadian Tire Centre on Friday after losing 4-1 in Montreal on Thursday.

It remains to be seen whether Teemu Selanne will dress for what likely will be his final visit to Ottawa.

Anaheim coach Bruce Boudreau left Selanne out of the lineup for the Ducks' second game of the season Oct. 5, a 4-3 win at Minnesota in the first of games on consecutive nights.

Selanne, who played his final game in Winnipeg the following night, is not expected to play back-to-back games in his final NHL season.

"Well, he hasn't," Boudreau said. "We'll see. It's a game-time decision sort of thing."

Boudreau split up captain Ryan Getzlaf and right wing Corey Perry in the second period of the 4-1 loss in Montreal, but it remains to be seen if things stay that way.

This is how the lineups may look Friday:

DUCKS

Patrick Maroon - Ryan Getzlaf - Corey Perry

Emerson Etem - Mathieu Perreault - Teemu Selanne

Andrew Cogliano - Saku Koivu - Jakob Silfverberg

Daniel Winnik - Nick Bonino - Devante Smith-Pelly

Hampus Lindholm - Francois Beauchemin

Cam Fowler - Mark Fistric

Bryan Allen - Sami Vatanen

Jonas Hiller

Frederik Andersen

Scratched: Kyle Palmieri, Ben Lovejoy