Projected lineups for Senators, Hurricanes

The Senators are beginning to deal with the reality of playing a couple months without center Jason Spezza, who is out after surgery to fix a herniated disc in his back.

"Jason is one of those special players in the League that can make something out of nothing," Ottawa coach Paul MacLean said. "We don't have someone like that to go in there, but we certainly feel very confident about the depth of our team to play with four lines and to play with tempo."

While Spezza's offense will be missed, MacLean said he expects to learn more about his forward group in Spezza's absence.

"We're actually excited by the fact that it's a great opportunity, not only for individuals, but for the team, to play," he said. "It's not necessarily who's out, but who's in. Let's come and play hard. They're not going to wait for us. We're really more concerned about the players who are available to play."

Guillaume Latendresse, who has the flu, is expected to miss Friday's game at Carolina and Sunday's game at Montreal.

For the Hurricanes, Dan Ellis will start in goal for the second time in three games. He stopped 40 of 41 shots in a 3-1 win at the Buffalo Sabres on Jan. 25.


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