Game Day Notes: Sens vs. Maple Leafs

We've got the latest injury updates, notes on the Sens' projected line-up, goaltender of choice and more before tonight's 7 p.m. start against the Maple Leafs.

Chabot on the mend

After breaking his toe while blocking a shot against the Flyers on Monday, Thomas Chabot met with the media yesterday to provide an update on his recovery.
"It's only been a couple of days now but it feels better everyday," said Chabot. "It's still a little sore but we've come a long way and we're trying to stay positive. I'm feeling a lot better that's for sure."
The initial diagnosis had Chabot listed as week-to-week and that timeframe doesn't appear to have changed. With the regular season set to conclude in three weeks, the 21-year-old blueliner is still hoping to return to action this year.
"I'd love to but we're taking it week by week now," he said. "We don't want to look ahead too much so we're trying to make sure that the bone heals properly first and once we're confident with that we'll look to make the jump and maybe start skating again."

Game #800 for Ryan

Tonight's game also marks a milestone for Bobby Ryan who will skate in his 800th career NHL contest. Since being drafted 2nd overall in 2005, Ryan has split his time in the National Hockey League between the Ducks and Senators and has recorded 542 points (247G, 295A) during his career.
His 421 games played with Ottawa ranks 17th all-time and trails only Zack Smith (604) and Cody Ceci (432) for the most among active players in franchise history.

Projected Line-up

We'll start with some good news on the injury front as both Mark Borowiecki (illness) and Christian Jaros (hamstring) have been cleared and will return to the line-up tonight against the Maple Leafs. The news is a little less positive for Colin White who will miss his third straight game with an injury.
"He has a neck problem," confirmed interim head coach Marc Crawford this morning. "His issue is that we want it to be 100% and completely healed before we'll put him in line-up. He's practiced the last couple of days and it's usually after practice that he starts to feel the soreness and the strain from it so our doctors and medical staff are recommending that we keep him off the ice today and tomorrow and probably again on Monday where we'll make a futher evaluation."

The coach also tweaked his forward combos again at today's morning skate and after a good showing in his first career NHL game on Thursday, Max Veronneau will start on a line with Brady Tkachuk and Jean-Gabriel Pageau. The trio showed some good chemistry in the latter part of the Sens' 2-0 win over the Blues and Veronneau ended his debut with a team-high 5 shots on goal.
Here's a look at the forward lines and defence pairings from this morning's skate:
Tkachuk - Pageau - Veronneau
Balcers - Tierney - Paajarvi
Smith - Lindberg - Ryan
Duclair - Gibbons - Boedker
Harpur - DeMelo
Wolanin - Ceci
Borowiecki - Jaros

In Goal

After a stellar effort on Thursday against the Blues, Anders Nilsson (12-17-1) will be back between the pipes for the Senators tonight. Nilsson was perfect against St. Louis, stopping all 35 shots he faced to pick up the decision. In his last 3 starts, Nilsson has compiled a record of 2-1-0 to go along with an impressove .948 save percentage and a 1.69 goals against average.

Where to Watch

It's a 7 p.m. start time at Canadian Tire Centre tonight and it looks like we're trending towards a packed house so
click here
to grab your tickets asap. The Sens will also be wearing their St. Patrick's Day warm-up jerseys prior to puck drop and they will be
auctioned off
with proceeds going back to benefit the Ottawa Senators Foundation.
Can't make it to the rink? Then catch tonight's game at Sens House where they'll be serving up tall cans of Molson Canadian for just $6 or a bucket of 3 for $17.50.
Click here
to make a reservation.