Only one change is expected tonight and that's the return of defenceman Johhny Oduya. Oduya was injured against the Capitals in the season-opener and, up until yesterday, was rehabing back in Ottawa. The 36 year old Swede got the green light, made the trip west yesterday to join his team and will draw into the line-up versus the Oilers.
"We were missing two top defencemen for the last few games," said head coach Guy Boucher about his battered blue line. "Oduya was brought in for his puck movement, his experience, his penalty kill, to play against the top lines so that was a huge part of our team that was gone."
Tonight's contest will also mark the 800th career NHL game for Oduya making him just the 10th Swedish defenceman to reach that number. To make room for Oduya, Christian Jaros has been returned to Belleville.
After doing some quick math (and the coach confirming it), the Sens will roll with 11 forwards and 7 defencemen for the third consecutive game. The strategy seems to be working though as the Senators have won their previous two games with this deployment.
