Good morning from Fort Wayne, Indiana. I probably won't get a chance to watch tonight's game (although I may get a chance to see an East Coast league game for the first time), or maybe even tomorrow night's game, but that is the minor cost of traveling for your child's extracurricular activities.

The Carolina Hurricanes come to town off a close 2-1 loss in Montreal on Thursday night, but prior to that the had reeled off five straight wins. So despite the loss to the top team in the league, they have been playing some pretty good hockey after a sluggish start.

Ottawa has hopefully turned a corner as well, putting together three solid performances this week, and have put together back to back wins, scoring seven goals in the process.

The Senators best players have been their best players, and that is what they need to be successful. Getting contributions from the Pyatts, Kellys and Neils in their specified roles is good, but if the goal scorers aren't scoring and the goalies aren't stopping pucks then the team isn't going to have a chance to win.

Ottawa has allowed the first goal in each of the last nine outings, and want to avoid playing with fire again. They have allowed the first goal in 15 of their 20 starts (and it doesn't take a math genius to know that is 75% of the time) including the Canes' last visit to Canadian Tire Centre, when Jaccob Slavin scored just 34 seconds into the game. The Senators came back to win that game 2-1 on Kyle Turris' overtime winner, much like they have been able to do during this stretch of games that they have found themselves trailing first.

The fact that they are carrying a 12-7-1 record despite trailing so often is pretty remarkable, but they can certainly make life easier on themselves by getting a lead and not having to battle back on a nightly basis. Carolina hasn't been a whole lot better, allowing the first goal in 12 of their 19 games (5-5-2 record).

Carolina has been great on special teams, with a 20% power play and a 92% PK, so Ottawa might want to play as much as they can 5 on 5, since the have allowed 3 power play goals against in their last two games. Their power play has finally climbed above 10% but Carolina has the best penalty kill in the league.

Enjoy the game! I wish I could!

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