Ottawa enters game 1pt back of first in Eastern Conference
Saturday, Jan. 24 - The Senators wrap up a mini two-game homestand tonight at the Corel Centre (7:00 p.m.) when they take on the new look Rangers (game notes) in their third meeting of the season. Ottawa downed New York 3-1 (recap) at the Corel Centre on Dec. 20 and fell 6-2 (recap) in New York on Nov. 23. The Senators come into tonight's game just one point behind Toronto, with a 26-12-7-3 (62pts) record, for first in the Eastern Conference while the Rangers toil in 10th place with an 18-19-7-4 (47pts) record. Ottawa will also look to follow up on Thursday's 6-5 win over Pittsburgh (recap) at the Corel Centre and extend their team record 11 game home unbeaten streak (9-0-2-0). The Rangers will be looking to turn their season around with the newly acquired Jaromir Jagr in their line-up.
SEASON RECORD AND THIS WEEK'S GAMES (Jan. 19-25): The Senators record stands at 26-12-7-3 after 48 games (62 pts Eastern Conference standings). The Senators play two home and two away games in the NHL's 16th week. Ottawa opened on a two-game road-trip in Uniondale, NY losing 5-2 to the Islanders Monday (recap) followed by 3-1 win in Raleigh Tuesday against the Carolina Hurricanes (recap). The Senators returned home to edge the Pittsburgh Penguins 6-5 Thursday (Jan. 22 - game notes) and will now host the New York Rangers on Saturday (Jan. 24 at 7 p.m. - game notes).
LINE-UP UPDATE: Patrick Lalime will get the start in goal against the Rangers tonight. Shane Hnidy returned to the line-up on Thursday after missing two games with a right quad contusion, replacing Brian Pothier. Players out due to injuries are: Antoine Vermette (left shoulder - day to day); Mike Fisher (right elbow - out indefinitely). Anton Volchenkov (right shoulder); and Vaclav Varada (ACL left knee).
After Lalime's horrid performance Thursday, I would have thought they'd give Prusek a shot tonight against Jagr and the new revitalized RANGERS tonight...
He's still winning isn't he??? Lalime is Ottawa's number 1 goalie. The smartest thing to do is put him back in the net after a weak performance. Lalime is good for having a strong peformance after a weaker one. Lalime has been struggling??? Since losing back-to-back games to the Leafs and Canucks at the end of November, Lalime lost one game to the Bruins in mid december and one to the Sabres earlier this month. Going on 1 loss a month is pretty good in my books, even though, according to some he is struggling. If that is the case, that's fine by me.
what a saturday night!! leafs vs habs, sens vs ranger/jagr. should be an entertaining evening thats for sure. i expect both leafs and sens to win, but i hope the rangers can pull one off to help the buds in the standings. the rangers lost dunham and i think they'll be going with their backup markennen? anyways.. with the weak d and goaltending of the rangers, which is worse than lalime on his worst night, the sens should pull this one off, probably by 2 or more goals. should be a doozy though!
It will be interesting to see what kind of impact jagr will have on the rangers. However, the sens should still win this game considering the rangers depleted defence. I agree with Craven, Lalime is the Sens number 1 goalie and that's not going to change this season. I've always thought Lalime was a very good goalie. Sure he's not having the type of season he had last year, but he's not having a terrible year either. If he was, would the Sens be only 1 point out of first place in the conference?
I'm more concernec about the team's overall defensive play. They've been giving up too many goals lately. Let's hope they're re-focused and they can start an nice little unbeaten streak again.
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Partying with Melnyk in Barbados
4-0 after 1 for the good guys. Disney's Stars on Ice and their 83 million dollar payroll looks worse then they did before they got JJ....Sather should be stopped.
SENATORS FACE JAGR AND RANGERS
SENATORS FACE JAGR AND RANGERS
:lol: :lol: :lol:
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