Game Day Notes: Sens vs. Stars

No line-up changes are expected tonight after Saturday's big 5-1 win over the Kings as the Senators get set to host the Dallas Stars at 7:30 p.m.

Top start for Tierney

Chris Tierney has been on fire to start the 2018-19 season and currently leads all Sens forwards in points with 7 (2G, 5A) and trails only Thomas Chabot (2G, 6A) for the team lead in points. After being acquired from the San Jose Sharks at the beginning of training camp, Tierney has been focused on growing his game and the early-season impact is definitely showing up in his statline.
"Coming to Ottawa, I really wanted to raise my game," said Tierney. "Offence was an area that I wanted to improve on and help the team with. It's been a good start so far and hopefully I can continue to contribute on and off the scoresheet."
What's been equally impressive for Tierney has been his consistency as the 24-year-old has recorded points in every game to start the season. In his most recent outing, Tierney tied his career-high point streak at 5 games when he netted his second goal of the year by ensuring that Dylan DeMelo's shot found its way to the back of the net.
"We had a pretty good laugh about that one," Tierney said. "It was just a total reaction. I saw the puck going slowing and your instincts kick in to make sure it crosses the goal line. I told DeMelo that I owe him a steak dinner or something for stealing that one from him. He was a good sport about it so I definitely still owe him a backdoor pass in the future."
"I'm glad he scored in Toronto though or he probably would have been pretty mad at me."

Up Front

After a solid all-around effort on Saturday against the Los Angeles, head coach Guy Boucher will once again roll with the 11 forwards / 7 defencemen deployment against the Stars.
"I like the possibilities with the forwards because it gives me a chance to try different things," Boucher said about using 11/7 again tonight. "The whole defensive corps played great as did our goaltender so I didn't want to touch it."

Mark Stone, who didn't participate in this morning's skate, is good to go tonight against the Stars which means that Nick Paul will be the extra forward again this evening and isn't expected to suit up against Dallas.
Here's a look at the projected forward lines…
Tkachuk - Smith - Stone
Boedker - Duchene - White
Paajarvi - Tierney - Ryan
Pyatt - Carey

On Defence

Chris Wideman's two-goal performance on Saturday definitely got people's attention but the Sens received solid outings from a number of blueliners against the Kings.
Ben Harpur, who was named the team's MVP for the game and donned the now infamous hard hat and workers coat which is given out after wins this year to honour those affected by the tornados in the Capital region, logged a ton of minutes and was relied on heavily in the absence of Cody Ceci who is on the IR but could be ready to return on Saturday.
And while it may have been dwarfed by the team's all-around solid play, Christian Jaros recorded his career NHL point.
"I was happy to get a point but it was so lucky though," Jaros joked. "For me, it's most important to play good in the defensive zone so when I play good defence, I can start to focus more on offence but my role is to not give up goals against."
Here's how the defence pairings could look tonight…
Chabot - DeMelo
Borowiecki - Harpur
Lajoie - Wideman
Jaros

In Goal

He was stellar on Saturday so Craig Anderson (2-1-1) is expected to be right back between the pipes tonight against the Stars. Anderson was only beaten once on 37 shots against the Kings and looks to string together consecutive wins for the first time this season.

Furry Fans Night

It's our first Furry Fans Night of the season! The Sens have partnered with local animal rescue organizations, who will be on site tonight (as well as five other games this year) to help promote pet adoption awareness and to celebrate a fun and unique game experience.
We're also recruiting so while your very good boy has to stay at home tonight, we're currently in the process of building out the roster for our Pawttawa Senators team.

Details on all this great stuff can be found
here
.

Where to Watch

It's a 7:30 p.m. start time at Canadian Tire Centre tonight and if you don't have tickets already, you can pick yours up
right here
.
In need of a spot to catch tonight's game? Well if you can't make it to the rink, why not grab a crew and head to Hooley's on Elgin where they'll be serving up Molson Canadian Drafts for just $6.50 all evening.