The big storyline for the night will be the return to Ottawa of former Senator Kyle Turris, who brings his Nashville Predators to town.
Turris was dealt to the Predators in a 3-way deal that brought Matt Duchene to Ottawa, and although Turris got off to a hot start and Duchene struggled to find his game in Ottawa things have evened out in terms of personal production.
Turris has just 5 points in his last 20 games as a Predator after netting 17 points in his first 17 games in Nashville. On the flipside, Duchene has finally found a chemistry with Mike Hoffman and after netting just 6 points in his first 24 games in Ottawa, he has 14 points in his last 14 games after Tuesday's 3 point effort.
While there is no comparison between the level of their respective teams at the moment, and while they weren't technically traded for each other and there were many more pieces to the deal, both players seem to have fit in pretty well and seem to be happy in their new surroundings.
Whether Ottawa wins or loses the deal won't be told for some time, when the dust settles on the prospects that Ottawa also gave up as well as whether or not the Senators can get Duchene signed to an extension in the next 18 months or so without drastically overpaying.
Turris will undoubtedly garner a huge ovation, as he was a fan favorite both on and off the ice, scoring clutch goals like his OT winner against the Rangers in last spring's playoffs, as well as off the ice, most notably showing up at the Capital City Condors' banquet mere minutes after scoring that goal before catching the team flight to New York to continue that series.
While Turris will be in the lineup, the returning Mike Fisher will not. He is still in the "getting in shape" mode of his comeback attempt, and still hasn't signed his contract, which will be done before the February 26th trade deadline.
The Predators come in a night after dropping a 3-2 decision in a shootout to the Toronto Maple Leafs, so they will be looking to get back in the win column. They have just 1 regulation loss since January 4th.
The Senators are coming in off one of their best performances in recent memory, a 5-3 win over the New Jersey Devils, and will look to play spoiler for the Preds, who sit a point back of the Blues (EDIT: and by Blues I meant the Jets) with two games in hand for the top spot in the Central Division.
They will be doing so without Alex Burrows, who was handed a 10 game suspension by the NHL for his ridiculous stunt Tuesday, kneeing Taylor Hall in the head while the two wrestled in the ice. The NHL did the Senators a favour with the suspension, as Burrows hasn't done much (positive) while in the lineup and I am sure that is one trade that Pierre Dorion would privately say he would like to have back.
Hopefully Mark Stone is ready to step back into the lineup to take Burrows' place, as he has missed 8 games with his lower body injury following a collision with Jake Gardiner Jan 20th. Derick Brassard, who also sat out Tuesday's game will be a game day decision.
Craig Anderson will get the start, as Mike Condon is battling an illness and as a result the goalie rotation will be put on hold, at least temporarily. It will likely be Juuse Saros in net for the Preds after Pekka Rinne played Wednesday night and there isn't much difference between the two in terms of stats and Rinne can use the rest as he isn't a spring chicken any more.