The nearly-fourteen hour celebration of the beautiful game on Hockey Day in Canada officially kicks off at 2:00 PM ET, when the Ottawa Senators play host to the Edmonton Oilers at Scotiabank Place.
Although the revelry of Hockey Day in Canada will certainly garner the majority of the attention from the hockey world on Saturday, Paul MacLean's team knows full well the opportunity in front of them. In the midst of a playoff hunt, the Ottawa Senators have dropped key game after key game, yet still have a pulse after a big Thursday night win v. Nashville.
Now, they'll wrap up a five-game home stretch against an Edmonton Oilers team that's been absolutely brutal on the road, having dropped twenty-two of their last twenty-eight games away from Rexall Place.
Edmonton's been playing better hockey of late, but the team's still struggled mightily over the course of the season, posting a paltry 21-28-5 record. They're lead by the supremely talented Jordan Eberle, who has already tallied 54 PTS (24G/30A) in just 50 GP.
The Oilers - much like the Senators - have really struggled this year protecting their net, yielding 2.9 goals per game against. Tom Renney has grown frustrated with the team's inability to cut down on the opposition's scoring opportunities, too, and continues to tinker with the back-end, searching for some kind of answer.
In the tough road environment, Tom Renney's given Nikolai Khabibulin the green light this afternoon. On the year, Khabibulin's posted an 11-16-4 record, .916 save percentage, and 2.50 GAA.
Ottawa's test tonight against Edmonton will be two-fold: First, try and curtail the overall team speed in the Oilers lineup - a tall task for any National Hockey League club. Second, limit the power-play opportunities for the Oilers, a team that ranks second in the National Hockey League on the man advantage at 21.8%.
Oh, and they'd be wise to keep Sam Gagner off the board, too. Gagner's white-hot right now, with 8G/6A(14 PTS) in his last four games.
Paul MacLean has opted to roll with veteran Craig Anderson for the afternoon game. Anderson rested on Thursday, paving the way for Alex Auld to make a rare start. Anderson's 25-19-5 on the year, with a .908 save percentage and 2.99 GAA.
Only one real notable lineup changes for either team on Saturday, and that's the sidelining of Ryan Nugent-Hopkins for the Edmonton Oilers. He's battling a shoulder injury and will not go tonight. Expect a bump in TOI for the likes of Shawn Horcoff, Eric Belanger, and Anton Lander.
Puck drop is at 2:00 PM ET on CBC.
Note: Welcome back, Andy:
Edmonton Oilers
Taylor Hall - Sam Gagner - Jordan Eberle
Magnus Paajarvi - Shawn Horcoff - Ales Hemsky
Ryan Smyth - Eric Belanger - Ryan Jones
Ben Eager - Anton Lander - Lenartt Petrell
Ladislav Smid - Jeff Petry
Ryan Whitney - Cory Potter
Andy Sutton - Tom Gilbert
Ottawa Senators
Milan Michalek - Jason Spezza - Bobby Butler
Colin Greening - Kyle Turris - Daniel Alfredsson
Nick Foligno - Jim O'Brien - Chris Neil
Kaspars Daugavins - Zack Smith - Erik Condra
Filip Kuba - Erik Karlsson
Jared Cowen - Sergei Gonchar
Chris Phillips - Matt Carkner
Ottawa Senators Blogger • 
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