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At the Rink blog

Senators bolstered by returns of Anderson, Spezza

Friday, 03.23.2012 / 2:34 PM

By Arpon Basu - Managing Editor LNH.com / At the Rink blog

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At the Rink blog
Senators bolstered by returns of Anderson, Spezza
Craig Anderson and Jason Spezza will return to the Ottawa Senators' lineup Friday night when they face the Montreal Canadiens at Bell Centre.

Anderson will start his first game since Feb. 22 after a sliced right hand cost him 12 games, while Spezza is coming off a one-game absence due to the flu.

When asked how he was feeling Friday morning, Spezza responded, "I'm going to be playing tonight, so I'm a little bit better."

A little bit?

"Yup."

The Senators enter the game on a two-game losing streak and with just one win in their previous five games, and they are suddenly just three points up on the eight-place Washington Capitals.

Ottawa has a 2-2-1 record against the last-place Canadiens this season, and they face a very difficult test Saturday at home against the powerhouse Penguins.

"It's a big weekend for us and we want to get it off on the right foot," Spezza said. "We need to pick up points wherever we can."

Anderson will face Carey Price in goal, and the Canadiens will be without the injured Scott Gomez, Tomas Kaberle, Travis Moen, Mathieu Darche and Brian Gionta.

Here are the expected lineups for the game:

SENATORS

Colin Greening - Jason Spezza - Milan Michalek
Zack Smith - Kyle Turris - Daniel Alfredsson
Nick Foligno - Jim O'Brien - Chris Neil
Rob Klinkhammer - Zenon Konopka - Erik Condra

Filip Kuba - Erik Karlsson
Jared Cowen - Sergei Gonchar
Chris Phillips - Matt Gilroy

CANADIENS
Max Pacioretty - David Desharnais - Erik Cole
Rene Bourque - Tomas Plekanec - Lars Eller
Mike Blunden - Ryan White - Louis Leblanc
Brad Staubitz - Petteri Nokelainen - Aaron Palushaj

Josh Gorges - P.K. Subban
Andrei Markov - Alexei Emelin
Chris Campoli - Yannick Weber

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