Senators' Spezza to sit out again

OTTAWA -- Ottawa Senators captain Jason Spezza will miss his third straight game when he sits out Thursday against the Winnipeg Jets because of a hip flexor injury.

Spezza revealed the nature of his injury after the team's morning skate at Canadian Tire Centre. He said he sustained the injury Saturday during Ottawa's 4-3 win against the Boston Bruins.

"I just kind of lost my balance at the start of the second period on the boards and as I was falling I kind of pulled something," Spezza said. "I finished the game and felt all right and thought I'd be fine the next day. Then I woke up and I was sore."

Spezza didn't have a timeline for his return but said he feels like he is making progress and doesn't expect it to be a long-term injury.

"We want to make sure that I squash it so that it's like anything, groins, hips, you don't want them to linger," Spezza said.

Senators defenseman Chris Phillips will return after missing two games because of a left foot injury.

Craig Anderson will make his third straight start in net and attempt to extend his personal winning streak to four games.

Ottawa, which has won consecutive games for the third time this season, will try to match its season-high three-game winning streak, set Nov. 5-9.

Al Montoya, who has won three straight starts, will get the nod in goal for Winnipeg, which will try to match its season-high four-game winning streak, set Nov. 8-15.

"Both teams are trying to get themselves going a little bit and I hope that we can continue," Jets coach Claude Noel said. "I think we match up well. The games in here have been close and I don't expect it's going to be anything different [Thursday]."

These are the projected lineups for the Jets and Senators:

JETS

Andrew Ladd - Bryan Little - Blake Wheeler

Evander Kane - Mark Scheifele - Michael Frolik

Chris Thorburn - Olli Jokinen - Devin Setoguchi

Eric Tangradi - James Wright - Anthony Peluso

Tobias Enstrom - Jacob Trouba

Keaton Ellerby - Dustin Byfuglien

Mark Stuart - Zach Bogosian

Al Montoya

Ondrej Pavelec

Scratched: Adam Pardy, Eric O'Dell

Injured: Grant Clitsome (back), Matt Halischuk (forearm), Paul Postma (blood clot), Jim Slater (sports hernia)

SENATORS

Milan Michalek - Mika Zibanejad - Cory Conacher

Clarke MacArthur - Kyle Turris - Bobby Ryan

Colin Greening - Zack Smith - Erik Condra

Matt Kassian - Jean-Gabriel Pageau - Mark Stone

Jared Cowen - Erik Karlsson

Marc Methot - Cody Ceci

Chris Phillips - Joe Corvo

Craig Anderson

Robin Lehner

Scratched: Eric Gryba, Patrick Wiercioch

Injured: Jason Spezza (hip flexor), Chris Neil (lower body)