The Detroit Red Wings and the Ottawa Senators are going to be sick of each other pretty soon, as tonight's meeting will be the third one in less than three weeks after the Halloween weekend home and home split.
Ottawa has been the better team offensively, scoring almost a goal per game more than the Wings, but that is offset by allowing 11 more goals than the Wings have allowed.
Detroit is buoyed by the return of Pavel Datsyuk, who is still trying to get up to game speed after returning to the team two games ago. Datsyuk is pointless so far, but it is only a matter of time before he shakes off the rust. The Wings have lost 3 of their last 4, including both since Datsyuk's return. Offense has been a problem since they embarassed Ottawa 5-3 at CTC on Halloween, scoring just 9 goals in the 6 games they have played since then.
For Ottawa, Craig Anderson will get the start (if he wasn't already going to) as Andrew Hammond took a shot off the mask at practice yesterday which necessitated the callup of Matt O'Connor on an emergency basis.
Good news this morning from the skate is that Kyle Turris did participate in practice (although he left quickly right after) and it looks like he will continue his ironman streak, having never missed a game as a Senator. Jared Cowen is still out after blocking a shot against Vancouver, and Zack Smith will not face discipline for his hit on Derek Stepan Saturday.
So the lineup will look the same as the one that played a solid game on Saturday against an elite Rangers team. The Senators will want to make it 3 very good efforts in a row. Ottawa has a clawed its way back to a dead even record at home (3-3-3) but certainly needs to improve upon that to be taken seriously. A win over the Wings will help in a lot of regards, especially since there is a pack of 5 divisional rivals within 3 points chasing them.
These next few games are very important because it was at this time last year that the Senators went into a tailspin that cost Paul MacLean his job. Last year's Senators were 8-4-4 through 16 games (8-5-3 this year) before going 3-7-2 in the second half of November/early December when the coach's pink slip was brought out and Dave Cameron took over a team that looked lost.
This team is better than that one, but judging by the over-reactions when the team doesn't play to their potential, they are in a precarious position and they certainly don't want to even begin to slip down that slippery slope again.
This is the middle game of a 5 game homestand where they have played well against some tough teams, but they can't let up because teams like Detroit or the upcoming Columbus and Philadelphia can certainly bite you if you take a night off. They have 3 in the bank, and if they can come up with 7 or 8 points on the homestand they will be in very good shape.
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