Game Day Notes: Game #39 - Sens vs. Devils
by Craig Medaglia @craigmedaglia / Ottawa Senators
Get set for today's 5 p.m. start at Canadian Tire Centre with a look at the Sens' projected line-up, goaltender of choice and more...
Projected line-up
Just a few small line-up notes to pass along today with the most notable being the return of Scott Sabourin to active duty. Sabourin has been sidelined since Nov. 2nd after a collision in the neutral zone against the Boston Bruins but has been given the greenlight to return after battling a quick bout of the flu prior to the Christmas break.
Sens head coach D.J. Smith shared earlier this afternoon that he hopes Sabourin being back in the line-up could spark his club who hasn't played a game in nearly a week.
"One thing he brings is emotion evey night," Smith said of Sabourin's game. "Teams that play with emotion tend to stay in a lot more games and people feed off that on the bench. He's an emotional guy and he's going to help provide a little emotion for us."
On the backend, Christian Jaros is expected to skate in his second game for the Senators this season as the team continues to deal with a rash of injuries on the blueline. The Sens will once again be without veterans Ron Hainsey, Dylan DeMelo and Nikita Zaitsev but Jaros does bring a little bit of experience to the table after appearing in 61 games in Ottawa last season.
Here's how the forward lines and defence pairings look for tonight's game:
Tkachuk - Pageau - C. Brown
Ennis - Tierney - Duclair
Namestnikov - Anisimov - White
Paul - Beaudin - Sabourin
Chabot - Goloubef
Borowiecki - Brannstrom
Englund - Jaros
In goal
Craig Anderson (6-8-0) gets the call in goal tonight for the Sens and looks to build off of a masterful performance in his most recent outing. After missing some time with a lower body injury, Anderson stopped 43 of the 44 shots he faced against the Buffalo Sabres on Monday to pick up his first win in a little over two weeks.
Recent meeting
These two teams last met on Nov. 13th in New Jersey where Jean-Gabriel Pageau's hat trick powered the Sens to a 4-2 win against the Devils. Mark Borowiecki tallied Ottawa's other goal while Anderson made 21 saves to earn the decision.
Full highlights from that game below:
Video: Senators, 4 - Devils, 2
Where to watch
It's a 5 p.m. start at Canadian Tire Centre and here's all the ways you can catch the Sens and Devils tonight...
BROADCAST: TSN5, RDS2
TICKETS: ottsens.com/SensTicketHub
RADIO: TSN 1200, 94,5 Unique FM
Need a spot to catch this evening's game? Then be sure to hit up Sens House where they'll be serving up pitchers of Molson Canadian for $15, buckets of (5) for $25 and nachos for $10 all game long.
To find out where our next watch party will be and specials you can enjoy, visit the full schedule click here.