Game Day Notes: Game #23 - Sens vs. Rangers
by Craig Medaglia @craigmedaglia / Ottawa Senators
We've got all the details on tonight's Sens' projected line-up that will see a handful of call-ups from Belleville check into action against the Rangers.
Projected line-up
As mentioned above, lots of changes throughout the Sens' line-up tonight (especially on the backend) as they deal with some injuries and external circumstances. For starters, Max Lajoie, J.C. Beaudin and Christian Jaros have been recalled from Belleville and are all expected to check into action tonight against the Rangers.
As a result, it will be the season debuts for Lajoie and Jaros who each had lengthy stays with the Senators during their rookie campaigns last year. While a role in Belleville was not the goal in training camp for either blueliner, it provided an opportunity to continue their development while ultimately working their way back to Ottawa.
"Obviously that's not what I wanted," said Lajoie about starting the season in the AHL. "But at the same time it opened things up for me to work on some stuff that I needed to work on so I did that. I'm just happy to be back."
On the flip side of things, Vladislav Namestnikov, Nikita Zaitsev, Erik Brannstrom and Cody Goloubef have all been ruled out tonight against the Rangers as 75% of them deal with injuries. Zaitsev's absence is of a more personal nature as he's returned to Russia for the weekend but is expected to be back in the line-up on Monday in Columbus.
With all that, here's a look at the Sens' projected line-up tonight (although the defence is a bit of an educated guess on my part):
Tkachuk - L. Brown - Duclair
Paul - Pageau - C. Brown
Ennis - Tierney - White
Chlapik - Beaudin - Veronneau
Chabot - DeMelo
Borowiecki - Jaros
Lajoie - Hainsey
In goal
The goalie rotation continues tonight as Anders Nilsson (6-4-1) will be back between the pipes against the Rangers. Nilsson has won 4 of his last 5 starts and his .924 sv% is good for 8th best in the NHL.
Hockey Fights Cancer
Tonight will be the tenth annual Hockey Fights Cancer Awareness Night the Senators have hosted in support of multiple organizations. The players will wear special purple jerseys during warm-up that will be auctioned off throughout the game.
All month a number of players have been having some fun growing moustaches and raising funds in support of Movember which helps to tackle prostate cancer, testicular cancer, mental health and suicide prevention. For more details or to make a donation, click here.
Previous meeting
Tonight marks the third meetng of these teams already this year with the road team each earning a win to set split the season series at 1-1-0 so far. In their most recent game on November 4th, Ottawa dropped six on the Rangers at Madison Square Garden with 5 different Sentors (Pageau (2), Ennis, Hainsey, Tkachuk and Namestnikov) finding the back of the net in a 6-2 victory. Anders Nilsson continued his strong play to start the season stopping 32 of the 34 shots he faced to earn the decision.
Full highlights from that game below:
Video: Pageau, Tkachuk help Senators top Rangers
Where to watch
It's a 7:30 p.m. start at Canadian Tire Centre tonight and here's how you can watch all the action between the Sens and Rangers...
BROADCAST: TSN5, RDS
TICKETS: ottsens.com/SensTicketHub
RADIO: TSN 1200, 94,5 Unique FM
If you're looking for a spot to catch tonight's game why not check out our Molson Watch Party at The Royal Oak on Blair (2067 Meadowbrook Rd.) where they'll be serving up Molson Canadian and half priced wings on all Senators game days.