Good morning from St. Louis, where it will be a sunny almost +20 degrees Celsius today.
That is the good news, but unfortunately one again I will most likely be unable to watch the new look Senators as they host the Columbus Blue Jackets Saturday night.
You probably remember the last time the Blue Jackets were in town - and rather than start Chris Driedger and give Mike Condon a much needed break, Guy Boucher started Condon on short rest and the Blue Jackets feasted on a tired Senators team that left their tired goalie hung out to dry. The Senators did some scoring of their own, but the 7-6 OT final won't be on many defensive highlight reels.
Ottawa has taken 3 of 4 points against the Blue Jackets this season, and both teams are in battles for second place in their respective divisions. Columbus is in a dogfight with the Rangers and Penguins, and like the Senators might not want to finish first in order to avoid the first wild-card spot, Columbus might look at the road to the playoffs and see that the third spot might be most advantageous to avoid the gauntlet that the Metropolitan Division is shaping up to be.
Columbus gutted out a 1-0 home ice win in their last outing, against one of the top teams in the West, the Minnesota Wild. If the shot total of 40-38 is any indication, it was a goaltending battle between Sergei Bobrovsky and Devan Dubnyk, who combined to stop 77 of 78 shots. Considering the fact that those two teams are 2nd and 3rd in the NHL in terms of fewest shots allowed, it was a night that probably had both John Tortorella and Bruce Boudreau pulling out their hair.
Craig Anderson will likely get the start for the Senators, and will face Columbus for the first time this season after Condon recorded a 2-0 shutout win in the first contest and was shell-shocked a few days later but still managed to get a point for his club.
It was Anderson and Alex Burrows who did most of the damage for the Senators against the Avalanche, and they are definitely stepping up in weight class for this one and need to capitalize on their chances more than they did on Thursday night. Burrows was the only player who managed to beat Calvin Pickard in the Avalanche net, and fortunately his pair was enough to net a pair of points for his new team.
You have to think they will need offense from more than one source if they are going to down the Blue Jackets. For all of their struggles against weaker teams, the Senators have stepped up against the better teams, a trend which not only bodes well for tonight but the upcoming playoff run, which is more likely than ever with the Leafs struggling on their West Coast trip and a loss last night that kept them 4 points back of the Senators and Ottawa holding two games in hand. This is a chance to increase that gap,and opportunity is knocking and the Senators need to kick down the door instead of just opening it up a crack and peeking through to see who is there.