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
