Game Day Notes: Sens vs. Avalanche

A few familiar faces are primed to return for the Senators this evening and we've got the latest details on the projected line-up, starting goalie and more before tonight's 7 p.m. start against the Colorado Avalanche.

Reinforcements

More good news on the injury/availability front as it looks like the Sens will be getting both Thomas Chabot and Matt Duchene back in their line-up tonight against the Avalanche. Chabot, who has been sidelined with an upper body injury since December 28th, has been a revelation for the Senators on defence and just earned his first NHL All-Star nomination earlier this month.
The 21-year-old defender has been clicking at a point-per-game pace this year (10G, 28A in 38GP) and is excited to return after missing the last 8 games with an injury.
"I'm feeling really good," said Chabot who rejoined his teammates for practice this week. "It's come a long way and I'm excited to be back."
The Sens will also be getting an impact player up front tonight as well as Matt Duchene will return to the line-up after missing the last 3 games for the birth of his son. Duchene, who turns 28 today, is back just in time to face his former club for the first time in Ottawa.
"It's starting to become just another team," shared Duchene about playing against Colorado. "Playing in Denver was more of a chapter-closer for me and I think any guy that goes back and plays against their old team in their old building...there's a lot of emotions there."
"My biggest focus is that I haven't played a game in 10 days." he continued. "I'm looking forward to getting back out with the guys."

Projected Line-up

With Chabot and Duchene set to return tonight, the lines and pairings should look a bit different tonight. Bobby Ryan, who is in the midst of a 7-game point streak, is set to skate with Duchene and Ryan Dzingel on one of the top lines while the line of Jean-Gabriel Pageau, Zack Smith and Magnus Paajarvi could draw the tough assignment of facing the Avs' dangerous first line.
Sens head coach Guy Boucher met with the media this morning but wasn't able to completely confirm his roster for tonight. It's likely however that he'll roll with 7 defencemen and 11 forwards so I'd expect one of the forwards to come out of the line-up as a result.

Since we can't 100% confirm tonight's projected line-up, here's a look at the forward lines and defence pairings from the last full practice on Tuesday:
Dzingel - Duchene - Ryan
Tkachuk - Tieney - Stone
Smith - Pageau - Paarjarvi
Boedker - Paul - Balcers
Chabot - DeMelo
Lajoie - Ceci
Borowiecki - Jaros
Wolanin

In Goal

Anders Nilsson (5-11-1) is set to make his 4th consecutive start for the Senators tonight after a tremendous trio of games on the team's California road trip last week. Nilsson went 2-1-0 on their western swing and through 3 starts against the Ducks, Kings and Sharks compiled a .949 save percentage and a 1.66 goals against average. Craig Anderson, who is recovering from a concussion, has been making good progress but isn't quite ready to return yet so Marcus Hogberg will back Nilsson up this evening.

One little extra nugget for today is an update on Nilsson's new gear which he has been breaking in for the past few days. Nilsson shared that he received his new Sens coloured pads and gloves this week but is still waiting for his new sticks and helmet to arrive. His helmet is currently out getting painted and he expects it will be ready in the next few days so it's likely it may not debut until after the All-Star break.

Where to Watch

It's a 7 p.m. start at Canadian Tire Centre tonight (grab some tickets
here
) and if you can't make it to the rink and are in need of a great spot to catch the game be sure to check out Hometown Sports Grill because they'll be serving up $7 tall cans of Molson Canadianduring the game.