Senators' Ryan out; Anderson returns as backup

TAMPA -- The Ottawa Senators limp into their game against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Monday mired in a six-game winless skid (0-4-2). They got some good news and bad news on the injury front Monday.

Goalie Craig Anderson returns after missing five games due to an upper-body injury. Although he won't start Monday, Anderson will serve as the backup to Robin Lehner.

However, the Senators will be without forward Bobby Ryan. The team leader in goals with 23, Ryan injured himself when he went hard into the boards during a 3-1 loss to the Dallas Stars on Saturday.

"Ryan will not be available [Monday or Tuesday, at the Florida Panthers]," Ottawa coach Paul MacLean said. "He has re-aggravated something and right now we are going to keep him out for two games and evaluate him when we get home and make any more determinations after that."

Stepping into Ryan's spot will be forward Mark Stone, called up from the American Hockey League on Saturday.

The Lightning head into the game in an enviable position: Everyone on their roster is healthy.

"It's good," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. "It's much better than not being healthy, that's for sure. The one big key is that Steven Stamkos is getting better with each game so that helps, and we're finding a little bit of consistency in our lines and we're getting production from some of the guys who have sat out a little bit and now are back in. Everyone's chipping in."

One player that will get an opportunity to make a contribution against Ottawa is rookie forward Nikita Kucherov. A healthy scratch for five consecutive games, Kucherov got the word he is in the lineup from Cooper at the morning skate.

Sitting out is a part of Kucherov's development, Cooper said, and the coach remains optimistic about his long-term prospects.

"He's 20 years old, so he has taken a huge step just to play as many games as he has," Cooper said. "He is learning about the NHL. Kucherov didn't have the luxury of playing in the AHL for two or three years; he played 15 games in the AHL. So he's still learning. Everything he is doing is two thumbs up from me.

"I'm really happy with where he has been and I'm really happy with what's going on, and he will be a really good player in this League."

Here are the projected lineups for the Senators and Lightning:

SENATORS

Clarke MacArthur - Kyle Turris - Mark Stone

Milan Michalek - Jason Spezza - Ales Hemsky

Mike Hoffman - Mika Zibanejad - Erik Condra

Colin Greening - Zack Smith - Chris Neil

Marc Methot - Erik Karlsson

Chris Phillips - Cody Ceci

Jared Cowen - Eric Gryba

Robin Lehner

Craig Anderson

Scratched: Matt Kassian, Patrick Wiercioch

Injured: Bobby Ryan (lower body)

LIGHTNING

Alex Killorn - Steven Stamkos - Teddy Purcell

Ondrej Palat - Valtteri Filppula - Ryan Callahan

J.T. Brown - Tyler Johnson - Nikita Kucherov

Tom Pyatt - Nate Thompson - Ryan Malone

Victor Hedman - Sami Salo

Matthew Carle - Radko Gudas

Eric Brewer - Michael Kostka

Ben Bishop

Anders Lindback

Scratched: Keith Aulie, Mark Barberio, Richard Panik, B.J. Crombeen