Senators at Blue Jackets preview
Ottawa seeks fourth straight win when Duclair plays at Columbus for first time since trade
by Craig Merz / NHL.com Independent Correspondent
SENATORS (11-11-1) at BLUE JACKETS (9-9-4)
7 p.m. ET; FS-O, TSN5, RDS, NHL.TV
The Game
The Ottawa Senators seek their fourth straight win when they play the Columbus Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena on Monday.
The Senators are 7-2-0 in their past nine games after defeating the New York Rangers 4-1 on Friday.
The Blue Jackets will try for their fourth win in five games. They had a three-game winning streak end with a 4-3 loss at the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday.
Columbus is 4-2-1 in its past seven games after going 2-4-3 in its previous nine games.
Players to watch
Senators forward Anthony Duclair will play at Columbus for the first time since he was traded for forward Ryan Dzingel on Feb. 23. Duclair had 19 points (11 goals, eight assists) in 53 games for the Blue Jackets. He has 15 points (10 goals, five assists) in 23 games this season.
Blue Jackets defenseman Zach Werenski has eight points (three goals, five assists) during a six-game point streak.
They said it
"I liked him as a coach to be honest with you. [The media] may think otherwise. Behind the scenes he was great to me. I learned a lot from him. I was pretty happy to be coached by him last year."-- Senators forward Anthony Duclair on Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella
"I'm thrilled for him. … I wish him nothing but the best. I hope anything doesn't happen tonight as far as hurting us, but he's a guy I pull for." -- Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella on Senators forward Anthony Duclair
Senators projected lineup
Brady Tkachuk -- Logan Brown -- Anthony Duclair
Nick Paul -- Jean-Gabriel Pageau -- Connor Brown
Tyler Ennis -- Chris Tierney -- Colin White
Filip Chlapik -- J.C. Beaudin -- Mikkel Boedker
Thomas Chabot -- Nikita Zaitsev
Maxime Lajoie -- Ron Hainsey
Mark Borowiecki -- Christian Jaros
Craig Anderson
Anders Nilsson
Scratched: Max Veronneau, Dylan DeMelo
Injured: Scott Sabourin (nose), Artem Anisimov (groin), Vladislav Namestnikov (back), Erik Brannstrom (thumb), Cody Goloubef (undisclosed)
Blue Jackets projected lineup
Sonny Milano -- Pierre-Luc Dubois -- Emil Bemstrom
Nick Foligno -- Alexandre Texier -- Cam Atkinson
Eric Robinson -- Alexander Wennberg -- Josh Anderson
Gustav Nyquist -- Boone Jenner -- Oliver Bjorkstrand
Zach Werenski -- Seth Jones
Ryan Murray -- David Savard
Vladislav Gavrikov -- Dean Kukan
Joonas Korpisalo
Elvis Merzlikins
Scratched: Scott Harrington, Riley Nash
Injured: Brandon Dubinsky (wrist), Markus Nutivaara (upper body), Kole Sherwood (oblique)
Status report
Boedker, who has been a healthy scratch for the past nine games, replaces Veronneau. … Zaitsev returns after missing one game (personal reasons). … Korpisalo will start in goal for Columbus, the only change in the lineup from Saturday.
Stat pack
Pageau has 13 points (10 goals, three assists) in his past 12 games. … Dubois has six points (four goals, two assists) in a four-game point streak. … Bjorkstrand has three straight multipoint games for the first time in his NHL career. … The Blue Jackets are 5-for-10 on the power play since former Senators head coach Paul MacLean was hired as an assistant coach on Thursday to run it.