Goaltender Andrew Hammond will start for the Ottawa Senators in the second game of a three-game road trip through Western Canada after Craig Anderson was granted an indefinite leave of absence to deal with a personal matter. "There's a lot of things bigger in life than hockey," Hammond said. "At the end of the day, this is a game. It's something we all take very seriously, but there are also things in life that are much more important to us. This is an example of that." Hammond hasn't started since making his only appearance of the season in a 5-1 loss at the Detroit Red Wings on Oct. 17. "He knew he was going to play in the next games," Senators coach Guy Boucher said. "He was getting ready for that. It's maybe a game earlier than we thought, but he's been putting in a lot of work with the goalie coach." Hammond went 20-1-2 with a 1.79 goals against average and .941 save percentage when thrust into the starter's role in 2014-15. He had a record of 7-11-1 last season. "As I've learned through my career, things change fast," Hammond said. "You need to be ready. You have to make sure your habits in practice are good. I feel like I've continued with that, even though it's been a little while since I've played. For me it's just an exciting opportunity to play a game, but my approach doesn't change."
