Game Day Notes: Game #15 - Sens vs. Kings
by Craig Medaglia @craigmedaglia / Ottawa Senators
The Sens return to Canadian Tire Centre after a trio of road games and we've got all the latest pre-game news and notes before tonight's 7:30 p.m. start against the Los Angeles Kings.
Projected line-up
A few changes to tonight's line-up as Sens general manager Pierre Dorion passed along a few updates before this morning's skate. Notably, Jonathan Davidsson has been recalled from Belleville and will make his NHL debut tonight against the Kings.
"We kind of want to see where we're at with a lot of these guys," said head coach D.J. Smith about Davidsson's recall. "We want a little bit of a faster line-up with our fourth line so that's what we're going with."
Davidsson made his North America pro debut this season with the Senators' AHL affiliate and in eight games in Belleville this year he has recorded a goal and two assists.
The coach also confirmed that Filip Chlapik and Erik Brannstrom will each check back into action against Los Angeles while Bobby Ryan, Mikkel Boedker and Cody Goloubef are expected to be the healthy scratches. Here's how the forward lines and defence pairings should look tonight:
Tkachuk - Tierney - Duclair
Paul - Pageau - C. Brown
Namestnikov - Anisimov - Ennis
Chlapik - Beaudin - Davidsson
Chabot - Zaitsev
Brannstrom - Hainsey
Borowiecki - DeMelo
In goal
Anders Nilsson (2-3-1) gets the nod in net for the Sens tonight and he'll look to build off of a solid performance on Monday against the Rangers. Nilsson's .922 save percentage on the season is good for 16th best in the league so far and besides a blip against the red hot Islanders in late October, his numbers have been quite good over his last 5 starts.
Injury updates
We received a bunch of injury updates today and in the spirit of keeping things concise, I'm envoking bulletpoint law on this one...
- Colin White has been taken off IR and is skating in Belleville and is expected to play tomorrow night in Syracuse. Smith noted that it's been 3 weeks since his last game and that he'll need some conditioning time before being slotted back into Ottawa's active line-up.
- Rudolfs Balcers joined his teammates for today's morning skate in a yellow non-contact jersey but there's no exact timetable for his return yet. Will also require some conditioning time in Belleville.
- Smith also shared that Scott Sabourin is doing better. No timetable for him either but that his symptoms have mostly revolved around his cuts and fractured nose which is positive for his recovery.
- Logan Brown has resumed skating and is nearing a return to practice in the next week.
Previous meeting
These team last met way back on January 10th, 2019 in L.A. where the visiting Senators secured a 4-1 road victory. Chris Tierney led the way offensively with a pair of goals against the Kings while Nilsson was stellar, stopping 33 of the 34 shots he faced to pick up the decision.
Full highlights from that game below:
Video: Tierney scores twice in Senators' 4-1 win
Where to watch
Puck drop is set for a little after 7 p.m. tonight and here's how you can catch all the action between the Sens and Islanders...
TICKETS: ottsens.com/SensTicketHub
BROADCAST: TSN5, RDS2
RADIO: TSN 1200, 94,5 Unique FM
Can't make it to the rink tonight? Well if you're in need of a spot to catch the game, why not grab a crew and head to the Royal Oak in Orleans (1981 St Joseph Blvd) where you can find Molson Canadian and half priced wings on all Sens game days.