It's a matinee in Los Angeles! Chris Neil is set to skate in 1,000th NHL game today as the Sens get set to take on the Kings at 4 p.m. and we've got 5 things to help set the table before puck drop.

1. Neil's 1,000th

This is an obvious place to start. Neil is set to become only the third Senator ever to play 1,000 games with the club joining Chris Phillips (1,179) and Daniel Alfredsson (1,178) on that short list. Over the course of his 999 games with Ottawa, Neil has tallied 112 goals (10th all-time), 136 assists (12th all-time) and 248 points (12th all-time) while logging 11,066:39 of time on ice in a Sens jersey which translates to nearly 184 and a half hours.
He's the franchise leader in penalty minutes (2,492 PIMs) by a ridiculous amount and has 1,736 MORE than the aforementioned Phillips who sits in second place. Neil is also the team's all-time hit leader with 2,965 by a vast margin.
According to
hockeyfights.com
, Chris Neil has dropped the gloves an astonishing 172 times (not counting pre-season or playoffs) which is exactly 100 times more than Dennis Vial (72 fights in Ottawa) who sits definitively in 2nd place. He racked up his most fights in one season back in 2003-04 when he tossed knuckles a ridiculous 24 times that year. In what was a bit of a surprise to me at least, his top opponent all-time was Eric Boulton as the two engaged in fisticuffs 5 times during their careers.
And finally, Neil has recorded 4 career Gordie Howe hat tricks with the most recent coming on October 22nd, 2015 which was ironically his 900th career NHL game. I can only assume #25 has something even more special planned for his 1,000th.

2. Starting Goalies

After a strong, 35 save showing in San Jose on Wednesday, Mike Condon is back in goal for this afternoon's game against the Kings. Condon is now 4-1-1 with the Sens since joining the team mid-November and has done an impeccable job filling in while Craig Anderson is on leave.

At the other end of the rink, it looks like Peter Budaj is in line to start in goal for the Kings today. Budaj took the L the last time these teams met (more on that below) but the Kings' interim-starter until Jonathan Quick returns has done a fine job posting a 12-7-2 this year.

3. Projected line-up

One small change for today's game as the Sens are getting a boost to their blueline with the return of Marc Methot. Methot hasn't suited up since leaving November 29th's game against the Sabres and will slot back in to his usual spot along Erik Karlsson. Andreas Englund comes out of the line-up as a result.
Here's how the lines and pairing are shaping up...

4. Previous meeting

These two teams squared off earlier this season in Ottawa back on November 11th, with the Sens rallying in the final 4 minutes of the third period to earn a 2-1 victory. Zack Smith tied the game late which set things up for Mark Stone who's game winner beat Peter Budaj with just 6.5 seconds left on the clock. As usual, Craig Anderson was great stopping 32 of the 33 shots he faced to earn the decision.
Check out the full highlights from that game below...

5. Broadcast

As we mentioned earlier, it's an early afternoon start in Los Angeles which translates to a 4 p.m. game time out East. Catch all the action of Chris Neil's 1,000th NHL game on TSN5 and RDS.