Game Day Notes: Game #43 - Sens @ Capitals

Who's in? Who's out? We've got the latest line-up notes from Washington as the Sens and Capitals get set to square off tonight at 7 p.m.

Duclair and DeMelo return

After battling injuries the past few weeks, the Sens finally get some good news on that front with the returns of Anthony Duclair and Dylan DeMelo. Duclair missed Saturday's game after blocking a shot against the Panthers last week but is healed up and ready to go tonight in Washington.
"I was just playing through the pain," Duclair said after taking a puck in the foot against Florida. "At that moment, it obviously stung a little bit but the adrenaline is so high during a game that you don't really think about it."
DeMelo on the other hand has been absent for nearly a month after breaking his finger against the Canadiens on Dec. 11th. Sens head coach D.J. Smith recently described DeMelo as possibly the "most underrated player on the team" so his return should preovide a boost on the blueline.

Projected line-up

With the returns of Duclair and DeMelo set, Smith will need to tweak his line-up a little bit. He mentioned the other day that his ideal defence pairings would see DeMelo reunited with Mark Borowiecki as the pair have exceled this season since being matched up. With Ron Hainsey and Nikita Zaitsev still dealing with injuries, the reuniting of DeMelo and Borowiecki may have to wait as both could see time next to Thomas Chabot on the top pairing tonight.
"DeMelo's his partner," said Smith about who will play with Chabot tonight. "But when you're playing 30 minutes you have a lot of partners so he'll play with everybody."
Duclair's reinsertion into the line-up should be a little more seamless having missed only one game. Prior to his injury, Duclair was skating on a line with Brady Tkachuk and Chris Tierney so it's likely they'll see time together against the Capitals as well.
Mikkel Boedker, Scott Sabourin and Cody Goloubef will be the extra skaters tonight.
No morning skate today so here's how the lines and pairings could look against the Capitals:
Tkachuk - Tierney - Duclair
Paul - Pageau - C. Brown
Batherson - White - Ennis
Namestnikov - Anisimov - Balcers
Chabot - DeMelo
Reilly - Borowiecki
Englund - Jaros

In goal

Craig Anderson (6-10-1) is set to make his third straight start for the Senators tonight after dropping a pair of decisions against the Panthers and Lightning to start the new year. Anderson has been pretty good on the road against the Caps and has started 6 games there as a member of the Senators and holds a 3-2-1 record with a .918 sv% and a shutout at Capital One Arena.

Where to watch

It's a 7 p.m. start in Washington and here's how you can catch all the action between the Sens and Capitals...
BROADCAST: TSN5, RDS2
RADIO:
TSN 1200
,
94,5 Unique FM
Need the perfect place to catch tonight's game? Then why not grab some friends and head over to The Prescott where they'll be serving up personal pitchers of Molson Canadian for just $9.25 (plus tax) all game long.
To find out where our next watch party will be and specials you can enjoy, visit the full schedule
click here
.